


Ghost Town (AU story) - Luffy can see ghosts

by helplessintrovert



Category: One Piece
Genre: AUstory, AcePoliceman, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Police, Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Cigarettes, Cigars, Conspiracy, Crimes & Criminals, Depression, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, LuffyCanSeeGhosts, Marijuana, Massacre, MentalPeople, Multiple Murders, Murder, Mystery, Psychotropic Drugs, Self-Hatred, SolvingCrimes, Suicidal Thoughts, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, psychiatry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-06-19 12:23:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 33,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15509796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helplessintrovert/pseuds/helplessintrovert
Summary: Luffy (17) has moved to live with his big brother Ace (22), after being abused for years by his grandfather. He didn't really decide it. The judges in the court did. And while he was trying to get accustomed to his new life, having in mind his unusual ability to see and interact with ghosts, he somehow managed to get involved in a murder, meet some crazy people (both metaphorically and literally) and almost die.  *Some SanNa, SaboKoala, UssopKyla, Kohza/Vivi, Smoker/Tashigi*AN: The first 11 Chapters will be uploaded every day, (because I have them written), since the publishing of this story. After this, the story will be updated every 3 or 4 days, but I'm trying to challenge myself and write 1 chapter every 2 days for 2 weeks. Well, nevertheless the frequency of the updates is up to you. Every review/comment gives me the energy to write the next chapter sooner. This story is available in the platform FanFiction.Net under the same title, so you can go and give your support there too. Love you all, hons XOXO Hope you enjoy the story.





	1. 'Meeting up with Ace'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, hope you'll like the story. I will try to update every 3 or 4 days. comment ^^

So this was it. He was waiting out in the rain for his brother to pick him up from the train station for almost an hour. Ace was obviously late, not that he minded tough. He had his game, phone, and headphones, so everything was just fine. Oh, and cigarettes, let's not forget the cigarettes. He didn't really expect his big brother to be eager to come and get him, either way. He was just something for which the other was forced to take care of, because of the circumstances. He was wondering what was Ace actually thinking after the case. He hadn't really told Luffy anything at the court back then. He was just rushed there, paid for everything - the lawyers and the other stuff, the trial finished after a few weeks and the judges took the decision for Luffy to stay with him. After that Ace just told him that he had too much work at the moment, so when he was able to take him in his house, he'll contact him.

A heavy raindrop fell on the boy's button nose, making him wrinkle it. He lifted his hand to wipe the cold water with the sleeve of his black hoodie. It really was a bad idea to stay under the not-so-reliable canopy outside the station. His hair and clothes were a little damped from the drops finding their way through the holes in the so-called 'canopy', but nevertheless, he decided to light a cigarette. Bringing the pack and a box of matches out of his pocket, Luffy pulled out a cigarette and a match and tried to light up the thing in his mouth. Just when he managed to do it, one raindrop fell on the just lit end of the cigarette. The boy sighed and was just about to take out another match, when he heard footsteps, approaching him. He lifted his head and was met with the same pair of onyx eyes as his. Luffy threw the cigarette on the ground and pulled the headphones out of his ears. He put them in the back pocket of his jeans and at the moment he looked again in his direction, Ace was standing in front of him.

* * *

"Is this your luggage?" asked Ace. His gaze was seated on the backpack and the small suitcase next to the boy's legs. Luffy nodded slightly and his brother reached out his hand, grabbing the suitcase and flinging the backpack over his muscular shoulder.

"Come on, my car is parked at the front." With those words, Ace started walking back to the station. Luffy silently followed him to the car - black Bugatti Chiron. _What a surprise_ , thought Luffy.  _Just a normal car for 3 million dollars._

He opened the car's door, sitting in the passenger seat, while his brother went to put his luggage in the trunk. Luffy preferred to keep his backpack with him and put it on his lap. The raven-haired boy looked around. Black leather seats with red stripes in the middle, black wheel, dark windows… Luffy's gaze fell on the black handbrake with a big crystal skull on top of it. Interesting decoration. Everything was expensive. And black. Black and expensive. It wasn't hard to guess Ace's favorite colors. Speaking of the devil, the boy wondered if they were actually going to manage to get along with each other. Indeed, the situation was a little unusual, but still, everything was going to be so much easier and quiet, if they were on good terms. Or at least didn't shout at each other all the time. Not that he was the loud type, but didn't know if his brother was or not.

Ace got into the car after a few minutes, put his belt and started the engine.

An hour later, while his brother was focused on the road, Luffy took his time to examine Ace's appearance. He hadn't seen him for 5 years after all. Ace was handsome. Like - really handsome. He had the same black hair and eyes like him, but the similarities finished there. Ace had more, how to say it…  _aristocratic_  features: symmetrical face with almond-shaped eyes, sharp and intelligent gaze, 'roman' nose - straight and thin, high-cheekbones, defined lips and eyebrows, strong jawline and shoulder-length, wavy, black hair, which was carelessly surrounding his face.

And freckles all over his cheeks and nose. Tall, maybe a good 6'4/6'5, and muscular. Really muscular. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a black T-shirt, which was like a second skin on him. The leather jacket, he was wearing before, was thrown at the back seat. They didn't have a big age difference, but Luffy looked like a child compared to him. His brother was 22 and he - 17, but with his 5'6 height, he was barely reaching Ace's shoulder. In his old school, he was the shortest kid in the class. Luffy shifted his gaze to the window of his side of the car.

The boy looked at his reflection - short and unruly, jet-black hair, round skinny face with the same round and tired eyes, puffed lips and that was it. Nothing interesting, especially with his short and lean body.

He sighed and leaned back in the seat, closing his eyes. It was pretty comfortable. He could easily fall asleep like this. Actually, why not? They had more than 3 hours until they arrive. A nap wasn't going to hurt. Besides, he hadn't slept for a few days. Or was it a week? He wasn't sure. The silent buzz of the engine and the smooth, but fast movement of the car were slowly alluring him to sleep. Outside had started raining harder. Large raindrops were landing on the car with soft thuds. Everything was just too calming.

* * *

"Come on."

Luffy unwillingly opened his eyes, making a great effort to lift his lids, which felt way too heavy then they should.  _I definitely need to sleep more_. The raven-haired boy rubbed his eyes sleepily and after that, he balled his hands into fists and waving them in the air, Luffy stretched his back like a reptile. He grabbed his backpack and got out of the car. And at the same moment, he froze. For a moment, the boy just stopped breathing.

Something was wrong. Something with this place was definitely wrong. He could feel it. His eyes wandered around slowly, carefully exploring his surroundings.

Everything was… dark. Definitely, it wasn't the right word, but Luffy felt like it was the most suiting one. And it wasn't only the house or the street, it was the whole atmosphere around here. Like eyes watching, voices whispering, just… just like something or someone watching, observing, estimating… Luffy suddenly felt like a pray completely oblivious and unprotected from its predator. The boy could feel how all of his hair was straitening up. His body tensed up and he narrowed his eyes.

"You alright?" came Ace's voice near him. Luffy suddenly slipped out of his trance and looked at his brother. Ace was watching him, with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah," came Luffy's silent reply and again the raven-haired boy looked forward, trying to figure out what exactly was the source of the ominous feeling. Ace didn't say anything more, but the stare he shot at Luffy before he headed to unlock the gates in front of the house, was pretty much enough.

Luffy snorted. Within 5 minutes he made his brother think he was a creep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love you, hons, hope you like the first chapter XOXO


	2. 'The mystery begins'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How I said, honeys, the frequency of the updates depends on you. Here is the next chapter, a few hours after the first one, thanks to perveritatemvis, who made my day with their sweet comment! Love you all, comment and enjoy XOXO

They were standing in front of a big house. From wood. Dark wood. And glass. Dark glass. It was all screaming gothic and Robert of Luzarches. The details made it look like a wooden gothic cathedral. The façade was a tangle from spirals, circles, and unknown for Luffy symbols and it all just looked like some part of a scene in an ancient myth.

Ace entered the imposing house, which was more an estate rather than a house, and so did Luffy. On the inside, the house was as impressive as on the outside but in a modern way. Ace put Luffy's luggage in the hall, and after taking off his shoes he said, ''I'm going to show you your room and after this, and the rest of the house.''

Luffy nodded and they headed to his bedroom. It was on the third floor, so they had to go up the stairs, which, how Luffy discovered, were made of thick dark glass. The beginning of the third floor consisted of a fairly long corridor, with a few doors from black wood on both of its sides, and five or six big paintings with silver frames. Ace went to open the door in the back of the corridor.

From what Luffy could see from Ace's broad shoulders, the room was pretty big and the wall opposite the door was entirely made of glass, dark glass of course. Luffy actually had always liked the feeling when being inside a building with such walls or windows, because he could just see everything, happening outside, without anyone noticing him. _Maybe I'm actually a creep._  The boy wrinkled his nose at the thought.

Luffy noticed Ace watching him intently from inside the room.

''It's really nice'', quietly pointed out the boy. Ace looked at him a few more seconds and then replied, ''If you want, we can change the furniture or the color of the room.''

''No it's perfect. I really like it,'' the boy added, hoping that Ace wasn't thinking he didn't like the room.

Ace shrugged and said that if he changes his mind, to just tell him. Luffy nodded and after going inside the room, to actually take a good look at it, his brother showed him the rest of the house.

When the house-tour had finished and he was ready unpacking, the boy decided to grab a pillow and sit on the floor, in front of the glass wall. His room was facing the wood. It was from enormous pine-trees. They looked ancient. Luffy really liked them, because of this. The atmosphere they were making, was very comfortable and calming.

The boy had almost forgotten about the odd and sinister feeling from before. He preferred to think about the house instead.

Practically everything in it was made of dark wood and glass, it was a really magnificent creation of the modern architecture. Most of the furniture consisted of black leather and expensive gadgets. The walls which weren't wooden or glass were painted in white. The house was made of three floors and a loft, which was a small room, situated over his bedroom. Ace had his personal fitness room, workplace, and bedroom on the second floor.

One of the rooms on his floor appeared to be Luffy's personal bathroom, which he pretty much enjoyed. Aside of this, there was an enormous garden on the other side of the house, at the back there was a pool and a basketball court, at the front, opposite of its façade was one of the two garages, and the other was situated across the street with their personal parking lot.

Luffy sighed and rested his forehead on the glass.  _I just don't want to think how much all of this has cost._  He looked at the sky through his jet-black bangs.

Dark clouds were being rapidly carried by the wind to some unknown destination. The weather was cold and it was probably going to start raining very soon. It was gloomy and oppressive, but somehow Luffy found it suiting to his mood and everything here. The boy was just about to close his eyes when he saw a movement between two of the pines. Luffy instantly straightened up his back, narrowing his eyes.

There was a silhouette. Of a woman. She was standing, almost hidden behind the lower branches and their many deep-green needles. She wasn't looking at him. Luffy got slightly nearer to the glass, focusing his gaze on her, trying to examine her appearance. She was probably in her mid-thirties. Her hair was brown and messy. She had extremely pale skin as if she hadn't been under the sun from a long time. She was wearing a dirty white robe, just under her knees, and she was bear-footed.

As if sensing his gaze, she turned her head and fastened her eyes on the glass wall. No, not on the glass wall. On him. They locked eyes. The boy's heart skipped a beat. Even when he knew it wasn't possible, he knew she was seeing him. Luffy looked her intently in the eyes, trying to find something in them. Just something.

_Nothing._

Her eyes were dull and glassy, but at the same time, there was something inhuman,  _animalistic_ , peeking through them. Her gaze was roaming, searching, examining his face, his eyes, with a rapid speed, as if having the attempt to see what was hiding within him.

It started raining. The rain was falling in torrents.

With a blink of an eye, the woman disappeared. Luffy blinked, his brain trying to assimilate she wasn't there anymore. The boy was getting nearer and nearer to the glass, almost touching it with the tip of his nose. All at once, her face was right in front of him, the glass was the only barrier between them. She stared at him with lunatic eyes. Luffy stopped breathing. Seeing the horror in his eyes, her lips started spreading in a maniacal and ominous smile, almost reaching her ears, nearly splitting her face in half.

And how suddenly she appeared, she was gone. Luffy stood there, unable to move.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review what do you think ^^. I'd really appreciate it and I'll be really happy to reply to all of your comments. ^^ Oh, and sometimes, when I see a mistake, or I've written something horrible, I may return to chapters to fix it, change a word or so, or remove a word, just letting you know. I'll probably update on 08/01/2018.


	3. 'Recalling the past'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, hope you like the chapter, even if this one is slightly boring in my opinion, but we just can't go any further if those things are not explained at some point. Please review, I'd really like to hear your honest opinion and suggestions of what would happen in the next chapter. I'll update tomorrow or later this day, it depends on you ^^. How I said I've written the first 10 chapters and I'm right now working on the 11th, so yeah. If you have any ideas for the story that do not involve Luffy, Ace, Zoro, Marco and etc. (practically the main characters) in couples, (because I just don't feel like putting them in couples, aside of the already mentioned pairings: Sanji/Nami, Nefertari Vivi/Kohza, Sabo/Koala, Usopp/Kayla, and Smoker/Tashigi, idk sorry if I've disappointed any of you, guys). One person suggested, on the platform FanFiction.Net something like a 'ghost cafe' and I'm looking forward to it, but I'm probably going to do it in more... modern way, with a little bit of twist, but we'll see. *chuckles* And my idea with this long note, was to show you that I'm open to any ideas, you might be able to at least make me come up with my own idea from yours or I'm simply gonna use yours, idk, we will see. Love you all, please comment and have a nice day, hons XOXO

He knew what was she, it was pretty obvious. He had hoped that it would take time for the ghosts here to notice him. But, no.  _Vain hopes_. When one knew he was able to see them, soon, all of them would know. Meaning, that he would have to deal with them all the time. Well, Luffy could cope with this, it was going to happen anyway. The problem was that it had happened too soon. If he had seen ghost like an hour or so, since he had arrived here, this meant that really close to the house there was a cemetery or a prison.

Or worse - a hospital for mental diseases. Luffy shuddered at the thought. Well, now, this was something with which he really didn't want to deal with. Angry ghosts and phantoms were one. Demented ghosts were a whole different story. And of what Luffy had seen 10 minutes ago, this woman was from the second type. The thing was, once a mentally diseased ghost had set his eyes on you, he would not stop pursuing you - either until you kill yourself, or you become so insane, that the pills you take, make you as responsive and rationally thinking, as a vegetable. A few years ago, Luffy had a not-so-amicable experience with one. At first, he hadn't been the victim of him, but trying to help one girl, he managed to become.

The girl had been 5 or 6 then, but she had the demented ghost of her mother's ex-husband, being in hot pursuit of her. Apparently, this man and her mother had been happily married, before her mother had become pregnant from her lover, and had left her husband to live with the father of her future baby - this girl. After a few months, they got married, but the mother's ex-husband continued with his tries to make her return to him, but after seeing this wasn't going to work, he decided to remove the obvious obstacle - the newborn baby.

And from there had followed the typical story: the man kidnapped the baby, tried to drown it, the police caught him, putting him in jail, he got mad, and after a few years died in the prison, turning into an insane ghost. Sweet story.

In general, ghosts weren't able to push you off a bridge or down the stairs, but if a person had been strong-minded in his life, as a ghost, he would be able to enter someone's dream. And this could be fatal. It was common for ghosts to wait for the moment when a person is unstable and mentally labile, and then to enter their dream. The thing was, that if they manage to take control over your dream, they could seriously damage your brain and your psyche. This was due to their ability to shape your dream and with doing so, they are able to implant harmful or suicidal thoughts in your head. Or, if you couldn't kick them out of your head on time, you would just die.

And this was what had happened to the girl. The demented ghost pursued her, and he was trying to kill her by entering her dreams. When Luffy met her she was a complete mess. She was having dreams about this same man and how her mother had been forced to leave him, because of her, the unborn baby from another man. The ghost had managed to make the girl believe that her mother was unhappy with her current husband and had left her ex-husband only because she wanted her baby to live and be raised by her biological father.

Not knowing what was happening to her and why she was having those dreams, the girl thought that her mother was secretly hating her, regretting her decision in the past. She didn't want to share this with her parents or ask her mother if this was actually true, so she just kept all of those thoughts locked in herself. This resulted in the girl to be mentally falling apart.

After her and Luffy meeting, the boy saw everything she was trying to hide. One look at her eyes was enough, for him to see all of the sadness, they were concealing. After that, noticing the ugly ghost always following the little girl around, really helped the boy understand that there was something definitely wrong. And why it was wrong. He befriended the girl really fast and she shared all of this with him.

Back then, they were in a small town. He did a research, asking people here and there, and he actually managed to collect all of the pieces of information he needed. In the end, Luffy knew the whole story. He tried to help the girl by telling her about his ability and explaining her the truth about her dreams and why all of this was happening. She trusted him and being so little and not being prejudiced to the things the adults, thought as non-existing, she believed him.

Luffy told her that he realized she was very young, but, despite that, if she wanted to live and grow up as one beautiful woman, she had to collect herself. Luffy explained to her that if she wanted to do that, first of all, she had to realize that her mother loved her and her father, and had made her decision in the past out of love and of nothing else. And second, to realize that the ghost had died as one sad and lonely person, who was powerless if she didn't allow him to control her thoughts.

It helped. The girl was fine and happy-go-lucky again, and she actually started feeling sorry for the ghost and wanted to find his grave to carry him flowers.

It was really sweet, but as soon as the demented ghost realized, Luffy had ruined his plans, and especially that he was able to see him, he did all he could to make his life a living hell. Even when the boy had explained to the little girl that the ghost couldn't hurt her, there was a pretty big difference between believing something isn't able to hurt you, and seeing and listening to the plans of the exact same something of ripping you to pieces and having it, waking you up in the middle of the night with sinister voice, telling you, you are worth nothing and you deserve to die.

It for sure wasn't the most pleasant way to be woken up. Luffy really didn't know what he could do. In the end, he started ignoring him, after all, he wasn't personally involved in all of the drama of the demented ghost's previous life, but that just wasn't working. Back then, Luffy really was about to go crazy, the ghost was slowly pushing him to insanity. Ghosts and phantoms were really good at finding a person's weak spots if they wanted. And oh, man, he did found Luffy's weak spots.

At this time, there was a carnival in the town, with fortune-tellers. By coincidence, Luffy met one of them in one of the uninhabitable buildings in the outskirts of the town. He was so high then, that he didn't really fully remember what had happened.

The boy only remembered the woman telling him there was someone pursuing him and after he had just sat there on the dirty ground, watching her with dull, red eyes, she did some ritual with candles and other stuff, and he fell unconscious. When he woke up there was no woman, and, unbelievably, no demented ghost.

Even now, when he was recalling all of this, he shuddered. Luffy was happy, he didn't have the ghost in hot pursuit of him up to now, but everything had been so creepy.

The sudden knock on the door, made him jump a little. Luffy turned his head to the door to see, what was the matter. After a few seconds, when nothing happened, the boy realized that he was supposed to give permission to Ace to enter.

''Come in," said the boy embarrassed. Luffy was still sitting on the floor, with his back turned to the glass wall, when Ace opened the heavy door. The boy didn't look at his brother's direction, being too busy to play nervously with the hem of his shirt. Ace was standing in the doorway, watching him. His deep voice broke the silence a moment later. ''Down for dinner in 5.'' And with this words Ace went out of the room, closing the door.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REVIEW, HONS! XOXO


	4. 'Lost'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys! I forgot to tell you that this is my first fic ever and yeah, that's why the first chapters are so short because I still hadn't gotten used to writing regularly. This chapter is longer, like 2104 words, the first one was like 1305, the second 1109 and the third 1497. They're getting longer, like for now up to 4000 words, and the ninth, tenth and the eleventh are around this much. 4000 words are what I've discovered to be my limit for now per chapters and for the close future. Hope you, like it and if you do, please review and show me your support, if there is such: DDD, because it would really mean a lot to me. ^^ Love you all XOXO

The sun was shining brightly in the sky as if marking the beginning of the new day. Outside was unusually warm and there wasn't left any sign of the rain from last night. The sunbeams, which had managed to go through the dark windows, were gently caressing the boy's face, as though, desperately trying to wake him up.

Luffy wrinkled his button nose. He covered his head with the nearest pillow, with the vain attempt to somehow block the rays, torturing him. He turned his back to the glass wall, but when the new streak of light, hit his back, he just gave up. For a moment Luffy wondered if he could loll in his bed for a few more minutes, but then he remembered the reason why he wanted to get up. With a heavy sigh, followed by a big, cat-like yawn, the boy rose to a sitting position. Luffy rubbed his eyes sleepily, trying to wake himself up. The boy yawned one more time, and with reluctance, left his bed.

He headed lazily to the kitchen on the first floor, almost falling down the stairs in the process.  _This sun should have waited an hour or three more, to rise up._  Luffy tripped a few more times but finally managed to get to the so-wanted destination, without killing himself. The kitchen was like the rest of the house - modern and a combination of wood, glass, and white walls. It was nice, but a little bit unfriendly. It was more of a kitchen made for a page of a fancy magazine, then a cozy kitchen for someone's home. He liked it, though.

There wasn't really a kitchen table there, so the boy sat down on one of the chairs in front of the bar, which, another surprise, was made entirely of thick dark glass. So were the chairs. At least they had comfortable fluffy pillows on them, so Luffy didn't have to worry about making his butt sore.

 _What are the first things, I am thinking in the morning. Jeez._  Luffy took out an apple from the fruit bowl on the bar and started munching on it. So, today he had to go to his new school, take his uniform and pay it, go to Ace's work to give him some documents to sign and fill for the school, after that, return to the school with the documents and probably ask a teacher to show him around. Maybe it wasn't going to be a bad idea to do a little research for the town too after he was back. And the prisons. And the cemeteries. And to pay a special attention to the hospitals for mental diseases in the town. And especially, where exactly they were situated. _A lovely Saturday, indeed._  He needed a cigarette.

Luffy threw the core of the apple in the trash and went upstairs to change his black T-shirt and white shorts, to something more appropriate. If it was up to him, he would just go like this to the school, but Lu didn't want to embarrass his brother at his workplace afterward. So, he didn't really have a choice. After he was equipped with a pack of cigarettes, working lighter and money, he went out of the house. He had his phone and headphones too, so it wasn't really going to be such a boring walk. The boy stuffed the headphones in his ears, and lit up a cigarette, turning up the sound of the phone to maximum, and starting to search for a proper GPS. He found and after an hour or so, he was totally lost.

Luffy was walking along an, how he discovered, _extremely_  long street. There were some shops on its sides, but they were either closed or demolished. The boy looked around. Actually, most of the buildings were partly demolished or completely in ruins. Everything was dirty, with spilled rubbish everywhere.

It was almost noon and the sun was shining mercilessly at its highest point. The air had become heavy and Luffy was just thankful for not being stupid enough to bring a jacket. From what he could see, the windows of the buildings, which were actually standing, looked gray with dust. Obviously, they hadn't been cleaned for a long time. Luffy was starting to wonder when was the last time there had been a living person. The obnoxious sound of cawing crows broke the heavy silence.

 _Oookay, maybe the GPS was a bad idea. A really bad idea._  But how could've he known?

Nevertheless, he kept walking, trying to find a properly functioning GPS. He was just passing through some alley, which was partially obstructed by something looking like a car, when all of a sudden a rat sprang up of one hole in the brick wall of the building next to him, almost going over his feet. Luffy jumped up with a squeak. A manly squeak, of course. The poor rat was even more frightened by the strange sound and by Luffy, and it just ran away as fast as it could.

Luffy looked around, being thankful for the first time, the place was uninhabitable. It was going to be really embarrassing if someone had heard him. The boy went hurriedly through the alley, not risking to meet another rat. After all, the experience hadn't been pleasant for both him and the animal. A little gross animal, but still.

Luffy turned right, hoping to finally go somewhere. The boy looked at his phone. It had died. Oh, yeah, he forgot to charge it last night.  _Perfect_. He sighed, lifting his eyes from the black display. He was on a street with a few shops. There was one, named 'Toys for everyone', which looked like the most stable building around. Lu decided to try his luck, hoping to find something to give him some clue, where he was. He wondered if it was too naïve to hope for a map.  _Well, at least I'm not going to roast._  The door was hanging sideways on one of its rust-eaten hinges, so it wasn't really difficult for Luffy to go inside. Entering the toy shop, the boy was met with welcoming coolness. It was pretty moist inside, but he wasn't going to be pretentious.

The shelves were mostly empty, with a few toys here and there. A big part of the goods wasn't even consisting of toys, but of carnival masks. There were many stands with metal shelves, on which the masks were hanging and underneath them were put cupboards, which for sure had seen better times. Originally, they had been probably painted white, but now… Either because of the time, the dirt or the enormous spider webs, hanging heavily on them, Luffy didn't know, the white wasn't really white anymore. The boy started rummaging through the cupboards.

Twenty minutes later, he was seriously starting to become irritated. Luffy had checked almost every cupboard in the shop, but nothing. Six or seven were remaining untouched because they were locked and he couldn't find the keys anywhere, and there were three or four in the back, in which, he was looking forward to finding something useful. He was getting tired, and from the humidity, he could sense a headache forming.

The boy sighed, trying not to give up. He went at the back and started ransacking the rest of the cupboards. Luffy could feel how beads of perspiration were starting to roll down his back. The moisture in here was slowly and agonizingly killing him. He couldn't have felt more like being in a basement. The air was starting to thicken and, aside of the sounds, coming from Luffy's rummaging, an unnatural and nerve-wracking silence was settling in the abandoned shop.

Luffy felt nervous. And watched. The boy slowly and carefully straightened up his back and almost shouted when he was nose-to-nose with one of the hanging on the metal shelves masks.  _Jeez._  He face-palmed. The mask wasn't even this scary.  _Or scary in the slightest._  It was red with black plumes and red beads. Luffy was just about to laugh it off, but the laugh remained in his throat, never leaving his mouth.

What stopped him, was the pair of glassy eyes, peeking through the holes of the mask. Their malicious and animalistic brilliance was way too familiar to him. He hadn't slept the previous night because of them and when he had fallen asleep, they had been chasing him in his nightmares, accompanied by the face-splitting, maniacal smile.

The woman's whole body appeared behind the stand. Luffy ran out of the shop.

He didn't care she was able to appear wherever she wanted. If he was fast enough, there was a possibility of her not following him. Luffy wasn't really sure how this worked, but sometimes when you run or getaway of them, they leave you alone, until their next visit. Some liked to chase you around, but the perspective of her not following him was enough appealing for the boy to try his chances and run. He wanted to at least go out in public, she was going to leave him for sure if he managed to do so.

 _Left, right, left, left.._  A few minutes later he was still desperately maneuvering with the speed of light in the alleys, searching for a way out of this part of the town. The boy felt like a mouse in a maze, which was giving all it had to run in some unknown destination, while, in reality, it was just running around for someone else's amusement.

Luffy looked behind him. The woman was nowhere to be found. The boy was just about to stop to take a break, but the moment he turned his head forward, he was face-to-face with her. He stopped dead on his tracks. Luffy could feel jets of cold sweat slowly making their way down his back, soaking the fabric of his black, over-sized hoodie. His body was unmoving. His lungs were screaming for oxygen, but he refused to breath. He couldn't. In spite of this, his heart was feverishly racing in his chest, as if wanting to break his ribs and make a hole in his skin.

They just stood there, looking into each other's eyes. Luffy could see every single detail of her face and of her body. He could see the exact outlines of her heart-shaped face, her tip-tilted nose, her round eyes with the brownish spots and specks in her forest green irises, the inhuman sparks in them with the strangely curved teeth, with their sharp, pointed tips, turned to the inside of her mouth. But what shocked him the most, was the total absence of any kind of sense and reason in her gaze.

It was as he had thought last night. She was more an animal than a human being. Her whole body, her appearance was screaming it to him. But most of all, everything was screaming him to  _run_. To get away from her. As far as he could. This woman had killed not once or twice. She might be a ghost, a demented ghost, but she was perfectly capable of showing him the meaning of a 'living hell', without touching him physically. He knew it. Something deep inside of him was telling it to him. Something which he had always tried to ignore and to bury deep inside his body, his mind, his soul and to not let it see the sunlight.

But he just stood there, like enchanted by her. He felt as if he could just be swallowed in the depths of those green eyes. The feeling of slowly being alluded to drown into their emptiness.

''Need some help?''

The voice took Luffy out of his trance. He turned around to see a girl with a long orange hair, slightly older than him, sitting behind the wheel of a fairly battered deep green, pickup. Luffy turned his back to her, only to be met by void space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REVIEW, HONS! XOXO


	5. 'Nami'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I'm here with the next chapter, hope I haven't lost your interest and if I haven't, please comment! ^^

 

**"** Um, hey? You alright?" At this words, Luffy looked back at the girl, giving her his full attention. Or at least tried to focus on what she had said. He was still extremely shaken by the ghost's visit. The boy couldn't believe he met her again so soon. Obviously, she had taken an interest in him. Which was bad. _Extremely_ _bad._ Now, he didn't really have a choice. He had to see what he could find about her. Indeed, ghosts were unpredictable. But just like everyone else, they minded their own business. Usually, there was an _actual_ reason why a ghost would set his eyes on you. And he wanted to know, why he was being so suddenly the object of such great interest.

All at once, Luffy realized he had been lifelessly staring at the girl since she had last spoken. His eyes widened and his cheeks started reddening in embarrassment.

"Y-y-e-a-ah," said the boy stuttering. With flushed cheeks, Luffy looked at his feet and nervously started playing with the hem of his hoodie.

"You sure?" asked the girl with clear suspicion in her voice. Luffy nodded rapidly, still having his gaze glued to his black, worn-out trainers. "I can give you a ride if you want, you look slightly lost." The boy lifted his eyes a little bit to look at her at the offer.

"Um, I…, um…"

"Come on," said the girl, driving the green pickup next to him. Luffy stared at the door of the car for a moment in a wonder of what to do, but a second later, he just opened the door and got into the passenger's seat. The sooner he gets out of this place, the better. Sitting, he put the belt on and waited for the girl to start the engine. She offered him her hand. "Nami."

Luffy looked at her hand in surprise and shook it, shyly. "Lu." Nami arched an eyebrow, "Just Lu?"

"Um, y-y-eeah," responded the boy nervously. Nami shot him a glance and started the engine. Luffy was again playing with the hem of his hoodie when she started driving. He didn't really look at her that much, but from what he had seen, Nami was really beautiful. She had waist-long, wavy, naturally orange hair and spherical, hazelnut eyes. She was slim and not much older than him, probably at the beginning of her 20's. She was wearing light blue, skinny jeans and a greenish-blue crop top, which was covering her breasts with an enormous difficulty.

"By the way," started Nami, breaking the silence with her mellifluous voice, "I'm sorry if I've been rude about the name, I just haven't met a person with a such."

Luffy blinked. "No, it's fine, you haven't."

The silence began to settle again.

"It's Monkey D. Luffy, but I prefer Lu," said the boy suddenly, continuing to nervously fumble with the black fabric of his hoodie. Nami looked at him.

"It's nice, but I still haven't met a person with such," said the girl playfully and shot him genuine smile. Luffy shyly smiled back in return, and with the upturning of the corners of his mouth, on both of his cheeks, formed adorable dimples. Nami's smile widened when she saw them in the rear-view mirror.

"How old are you?" asked Nami in an easy manner.

"Um, 17, you?" responded the boy, the vexation in his voice still pretty clear.

"I'm not going to eat you, you shouldn't be so nervous," laughed Nami sonorously and after that responded, "20." Well, Luffy had made a nice guess.

The car started slowing down and Luffy lifted his gaze to look at the road. They were at some juncture. Nami was just turning right when her eyes widened.

"By the way, to where I'm driving?"

The boy stood still for a second, assimilating her words. Luffy blinked when the realization hit him. He hadn't said her where to leave him. "Um…"

"Where do you need to go?" asked the red-haired girl.

"Y-y-o-u c-can leave me at some b-u-u-s station or s-so-o-mething like that…?" stuttered the boy out, more like a question than a statement.

"Well, where exactly?" said Nami and started laughing. Luffy's adorable nervousness was really amusing her. "Don't worry, I don't really have anything to do right now, so just tell me where you need to go."

"But I don't want t-t-o waste your ti-i-me," responded the boy, looking at his lap. Nami smiled at him, cheerfully.

"Come on, shoot."

Luffy looked her nervously and hesitantly said, "The Academy of One Piece."

"Hm, that's a nice school. Okay, we're going there," responded Nami, giving him a reassuring smile. "What were you doing here, by the way. This is the old part of the town and it's uninhabitable."

"I-I was searching for the school, b-u-u-t the GPS on my phone just didn't work," responded the boy.

"Are you new in town?"

"Yeah, I, um, just m-o-oved here."

''Your parents moved here, because of work or?" asked Nami absently, bending forward and lifting her body from the seat slightly, to look through the car window, when she turned left. They suddenly were at a busy street and some driver swore at them, when the pickup, almost hit the back of his car.

"No, I moved here to live with my big brother."

"That's really nice. Your brother, for sure, will allow you to do more things than your parents. But the bad thing is, they will molest you to no end with calls and messages, now, when you don't live with them," said Nami and started laughing whole-heartily. She ran her slim fingers through her long hair, trying to pull a few unruly strands off of her face. "At least, when you visit them, they'll spoil you really much," Nami winked at him, and added mischievously, "Plus, I don't really know how much of a cook your big brother is, but when you go to your parents' house, you will eat lots of home-made food."

Luffy remained silent, not really knowing what to respond to this. In return for it, Nami kept talking, "I remember how much I missed my mother's cooking when my sister and I first got here."

The boy looked at Nami and was met with the sudden sadness, which had appeared in her eyes. Her hazelnut gaze was fixed, unseeingly, at some unknown spot in front of them. Her plump, pink lips were pursued in something looking as a nostalgic smile. Luffy was just about to say something, but as suddenly as Nami had been overcome with grief, she was back to her apparent easy-going self and was now happily chattering about her new job in the center or something.

Luffy kept his gaze on her for a few more seconds, than looked forward at the passing cars. It had started raining again and there was nothing left of the great heat from earlier. People were walking hurriedly, with variegated umbrellas in hands. Luffy noticed Nami had put on the windscreen wiper.

''Dunno, for me personally, it was a little bit hard to grow accustomed to this town, but now it's like my home, so don't worry, I'm sure you will get used to everything here pretty soon." The warmness in Nami's voice made Luffy look at her. She was smiling at him cordially and soothingly. The boy's cheeks heated up at the attention and he rapidly shifted his gaze to his lap, again starting to nervously fumble with the hem of his black hoodie. Nami started laughing, her melodious voice filling the car.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hons, COMMENT!^^ Love you, all XOXO


	6. 'Around the school'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys!
> 
> 1\. Someone has told me that people in America get offended if they are called 'guys' (how I call you all), and I wanted to know if it's true, because I don't want to offend anyone, so please tell me. I asked in FanFiction. Net too and one really nice person explained to me that maybe in some parts of America, people might get offended, but in reality that it isn't a big deal. I wanted to ask you too, because idk just to be sure I'm not offending anyone. 
> 
> 2\. How I said I'm trying to make chapters longer, this one is 3, 305 words, so you'll have more to read. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter ^^

 

After a good 20 minutes, Luffy was standing in the rain in front of a huge building, which apparently was his new school. Nami was still waiting for him to get inside before she headed to her apartment. Luffy looked behind him, shooting a nervous and unsure glance to the green pickup. The boy was wondering if he could just return to the car and ask Nami if she could drive him home and after this, ask his brother if he can just go himself to sign the documents.

_Yeeeah, and he, for sure, will be sooo happy that I refuse to do such a simple thing._

Luffy snorted and with a heavy sigh, turned to wave at Nami goodbye, to which she responded with a wide, reassuring smile, and a happy wave, before she started the engine and drove out the parking lot. Luffy watched the car, which was receding further and further down the street, with a great reluctance, clear in his gaze. The boy sighed again and shuffled his feet towards the building. The rain was diligently drenching his hair and clothes more and more with every second, so he decided to quicken his steps a little bit. Heavy raindrops were running down his face, preventing him from seeing properly. Luffy put a hand, screening his eyes.

When he managed to reach the two-leaved glass door of the school, he was completely wet. After he was inside, Luffy shook his head, sprinkling water everywhere. On the floor, on the door… And on one of the security guards. Startled, Luffy jumped away from him. The boy's cheeks were completely red from embarrassment. He stood still, starting to nervously fumble with the hem of his soaked hoodie, not daring to look at the man.

''Can I help you with something?" asked the man harshly, wiping the water off his face.

"U-u-u-m-m…" stuttered the boy out, not knowing what to say. The man was waiting for him, expectantly, to say something. He took a few steps, nearing the raven-haired kid. When Luffy dared to look up at him, the guard was hovering over him, with his hands crossed in front of his broad-chest and having his piercing gaze, fixed on him. His hair was _white_ , but he didn't look older than forty, probably in his mid-thirties. The man was tall, maybe even a little bit taller than his brother, and a giant of a man, at that. He was wearing a black jacket on which was written 'Security Guard', dark pants and there was an actual cigar between his lips, which wasn't really lit, but still. It was making him look more as a member of the mafia than as a security guard.

The man arched an eyebrow at the kid's stare. Luffy gulped.

"Can. I. Help. You. With. Something," growled the man through gritted teeth. The boy nervously shifted his gaze to the floor, next to his left foot, trying to think of something to say. He could sense how the man's remaining patience was slowly disappearing. The sharp, brown eyes were burning a hole in his head and the man was standing like a stone wall an inch away from him, obviously not having any intentions of moving any time soon. Luffy moistened his dry and cracked lips with his tongue and cleared his throat, "U-um, I wanted to-to go to t-th-e-e principal's o-offi-i-ce to get some do-documents for my b-brother to sign."

''You are the new kid?" asked the guard, eyeing him from head to toe. "You don't look like a tenth-grader," concluded the man.

"I-I-I, um… I-I'm just short," said the boy, wiggling awkwardly.

"Hn."

The man looked at him for a few more seconds, and after that stepped back from the kid, giving him some air. "Alright, brat, follow me."

The security guard started going in some direction, expecting Luffy to follow him, which the boy did quickly, not wanting to frustrate the man more. The boy caught up with him and saw how he put the cigar in one of the many pockets of his jacket, which was actually dark blue.

_Still scary, and still making him look like a part of the mafia._

With this thought, Luffy took a peep at the man's face. He was frowning, obviously not pleased at having to deal with some brat, who was preventing him from smoking the cigar outside. Sensing his gaze, the man cast him a rigorous glance. _Yup, scary._

Luffy looked away, gluing his eyes to the floor. They turned left, reaching an elevator. After getting inside, the scary man pushed the button for the fifth floor. The buttons were ten, and seven of them were for the different floors. _Hm, it indeed is enormous_ , if there are 7 floors, thought Luffy. After a lovely 20-seconds journey the doors of the elevator opened and Luffy waited for the guard to get out before him. Passing a few doors more, they were finally in front of the principal's office. The man knocked and after that they heard a harsh man's voice, telling them to wait.

They stood in silence for a few seconds when Lu ventured to say, "U-u-um, I-I'm r-r-really-y sorry f-o-or the w-water from be-e-fore, Mr."

The man looked at him, fixing his sharp gaze one more time on him, watching him intently. He watched the boy intently for about 2-3 seconds, and then said, "It's fine."

Suddenly the door of the office opened and a woman with long, dark hair showed up at the doorframe.

"You can come in," announced she, pushing her darkly pink-framed glasses up her long and thin nose with a delicate, pale finger. Luffy cast a glance at the minacious security guard, who had already turned his back to them and was walking down the corridor, without even greeting the woman, who was probably the secretary. The boy looked again at her and with an unsure wave, stuttered out, "H-h-i."

The woman gestured him to come into the office and went back inside. Luffy followed her, closing the heavy, wooden door after him.

The room was painted white with a dark wooden floor, which was creaking with every step the raven-haired boy took further. There was barely any furniture in it, despite its enormous floorage. A huge desk was placed right in front of him, accompanied with two big leather chairs, on one of which was sitting a man, who had his elbows situated over the dark surface of the desk, with his strong jaw, resting on the back of his hands. He was broad-backed and tanned. His intelligent, but harsh gaze was burning the boy's face and body as if trying to pierce his skin and see deep inside of him.

Luffy gulped soundly, trying to recall any good manners in his head.

"So, you're the new student?" asked the imposing man, his deep and gruff voice filling the silence, sounding almost deafening to the boy. Luffy nervously nodded, still standing, not really knowing if it was appropriate for him to sit on the other leather chair, across the man.

"Portgas D. Ace's brother.. Hn."

The man's eyes were fixed on the boy. Luffy was watching him intently, not daring to look down at his lap or shift his gaze to the side like he usually did. Something in him was telling him to not lose this man from his eyesight. For a part of the second, something went through the principal's eyes. Something _malevolent_. Luffy was going to miss it if they weren't lifelessly staring at each other for the past few seconds. It was violent and loathsome, at the same time.

But like everything in this town, it was gone as soon as it had appeared. Luffy was taken by surprise, when the sinister man spoke, breaking their eye contact to look down at the documents placed in front of him, "You've to go and get your uniform from the uniform-shop, which is situated at the first underground floor. You'll pay it there. And here are the indispensable documents. Bring them to your brother. I need them signed today. I expect to receive them till the end of the day."

After finishing with his instructions, the principal handed him the documents and started doing some of the paperwork in front of him. Feeling totally ignored by the man, Luffy shifted his gaze to the dark-haired woman, as if asking her to say him at least where exactly was this 'uniform-shop'.

"Come on,'' said the woman, walking to the door. The boy stood up, but before he turned, he hastily said to the man, "H-have a n-ni-c-ce day."

After Luffy and the quite beautiful secretary were outside and the door was closed, the woman spoke softly, "Don't take it by heart. Mr. Sakazuki can be pretty intractable sometimes. He is just like that."

Luffy blinked and looked at her. Noticing his gaze, she smiled warmly at him. They were walking along the hallway, probably to the elevator. The only sound was coming from the rattling of the woman's high heels, which were hitting the marble floor with her every step. She was wearing a knee-long, tight-fitting, navy-blue skirt, white shirt with a V-neck and a coat, that was the same color as the skirt. The top part of her hair was being held by a big, pink hair clip at the back of her head. A few strands of hair had slipped from it, branching her oval face. She was young, probably around 26-27, slightly made up, just enough to enhance her beautiful features.

_Yup, she is beautiful, indeed._

Once they were in the elevator, the woman said, "I'll bring you to Mr. Smoker, he'll lead you to the uniform shop. It might be on the first underground floor, but it's big and you can easily get lost. After that he'll show you around, so you can have some notion about the main building and the schoolyard. Don't worry to ask if you're not sure of the exact situation of something when your lessons start next week. It's normal for you to be a little disorientated at first."

Luffy nodded shyly, fumbling with the hem of his hoodie.

"I'm Tashigi, by the way, the school's secretary."

Tashigi stretched her hand for him to shook, which Lu did.

"M-monkey D-d. Luf-fy."

"I know," answered Tashigi, smiling. "If you have any questions you can come to me."

''O-o-okay."

When they were again on the first floor, they got out the elevator and headed to the two-leaved door, but no one was there.

"Hm, he probably is out to smoke," said Tashigi, more to herself than to him. She pushed the door, going outside. Luffy did the same thing, and they saw the security guard, smoking under the canopy of the school's façade. Tashigi narrowed her dark eyes. Fixing her skirt and pushing her glasses up her nose, she went decisively towards him. She was almost in front of him when he noticed her.

"You're not supposed to smoke in front of the school," were Tashigi's first words towards the man. In response to her trenchant tone, he breathed out the smoke of the cigar in her face, without even looking at her. Luffy could see how Tashigi was getting purple in the face with anger. She grabbed the cigar out of his hand, threw it on the ground and stepped vigorously on it. The man lifted his eyes up to look at her. He was furious. For a moment Luffy thought he would hit her. But the only thing he did was to glare at her, his eyes menacingly narrowed to slits. Tashigi, obviously unmoved by this, was standing motionless with her head erect and looking daggers at the man, who was double her size.

"U-u-um, I-I can g-go alo-one," offered nervously Luffy. Two pairs of eyes shifted to him. The boy gulped and looked to his feet. After a second he heard the rustling of clothes.

"Do I have to lead him to the uniform-shop?" guessed the man, nearing him.

"Yes," said Tashigi, pushing her glasses up her nose. She fixed her skirt and with an angry step, went back inside the school.

"Come on, brat," said Smoker and for the second time this day Luffy followed him.

After half an hour, Luffy had his uniform and was now behind the school with the guard, who wanted to smoke, before walking the boy to the nearest bus station. Tashigi, because she had forgotten to do it before, had called Smoker to inform him that the principal had ordered him to show the boy around. If Luffy had to be honest, he seriously doubted that this same _Mr. Sakazuki_ he met, was so concerned about his ability to orientate around the school, to even say to someone to show him around. More likely, Tashigi was just being nice.

But because Smoker wasn't really fond of the idea of spending his time, walking around the school with some kid, following him, they had agreed that, since Luffy was new in town and had come to the school by car, the man would show him the nearest bus station, after he had smoked at least one cigar.

"Want one?" asked Smoker, sitting on one stump. There was a small, metal door near them. It was padlocked, so there was no need for them to worry, that someone else will reprove them. A big canopy was placed over their heads, protecting them from the pouring rain. _Maybe, I actually should have taken a jacket… Or an umbrella._ Smoker had already pulled out of his pocket two cigars and was now searching for a lighter.

"No, t-thanks." At his words, the guard just shrugged and put one of the cigars in his jacket and the other between his lips.

Luffy sat on the ground with crossed legs and took out of the front of his hoodie his pack of cigarettes and a lighter, which he handed to Smoker. The man looked at the item with the corner of his eye. "You smoke?"

Luffy nodded. Smoker took the lighter, lit the cigar in his mouth and returned it to the boy. Luffy lit his cigarette and put the blue lighter back in the front pocket of his hoodie. He inhaled the nicotine and rested his head on the wall behind him, closing his eyes. The next time he brought the cigarette to his blood-red lips, he didn't even open his eyes. It just wasn't necessary. A

few minutes passed and Luffy could feel Smoker's piercing and estimating gaze, roaming over him. He didn't bother to ask what was the matter. He knew the man was just assessing him. Luffy already knew he was from those people, who always watch, examine and appraise - both people and situations. He had seen it in Smoker's intelligent and sharp gaze.

_Hm.. Smoker. What a strange name…_

Luffy smiled and blew out the previously inhaled smoke, creating curls of white smoke, which, afterward, were disentangling in the air, disappearing in a few seconds.

"You ready?"

Luffy opened his eyes and nodded, throwing his cigarette on the ground. Smoker had already stood up and was waiting for him, with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his dark pants. The boy stood up too, taking the enormous plastic bag, which contained his new uniform, of the wet ground, where he previously had carelessly thrown it. It was slightly muddy, but the boy hoped he could clean it before his visit to Ace's work. They headed towards the bus station. Luffy tried to remember from where they were passing and especially how to go again to this place behind the school. It was going to be really useful if here the smoking was actually forbidden.

The bus station wasn't this far at least. In a few minutes they were there and before Smoker had had the chance to turn his back to him and walk away, Luffy said, "U-um, how can I-I go to the police station?"

Smoker cast him a glance and puffed out the smoke of his second cigar, before answering, "Bus № 414, ask the driver where you should get down."

The man took out his phone, swang around and headed back to the school, leaving Luffy alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments! Love you all, hons, and please share your opinion about the chapter XOXO


	7. 'The mysterious library'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the chapter, I am updating tomorrow again 08.01.2018. and I'll be waiting for you here ^^ Please comment on how you think the story will keep going? What will happen next? And if you have any suggestions, please say them, because I've got an idea of what I want to happen in the story, but I haven't decided yet about the details, so if you have any ideas, feel free to share them ^^ And guys, seriously, if there are people, other than those that regularly comment (that are the reason for my smile most of the time I look at my phone), who enjoy this story, I want them to share their opinion, because this way I know I'm somehow able to reach to you, with my writing. XOXO

 

 

Luffy had already given the documents to his brother and was now in a taxi, which Ace had called for him. All of his brother's colleges had a shock, when they saw how wet, or more correctly, how _soaked_ he was. There literally was a water dripping off his hoodie on the floor. Before that, the driver of the bus had wanted to put him down, only because he was wetting the seats and the floor. People were so mean these days.

Ace had told him to go home and change his clothes and that he would go to give the documents back to the principal after his shift was over. Luffy tried to say to him that he wanted to do a research before that, but his talking had been stopped instantly.

Luffy puffed his lips and breathed out through his nose against the window of the car, steaming it. The boy looked at his creation. He cast a glance at the taxi driver, who wasn't paying him attention in the slightest, too busy to curse the other drivers, blocking the street traffic. Luffy looked back at the blurred glass and started drawing on it with his finger. He drew a straw-hat. And a skull with bones just like those on the pirate's flags. He liked it, though. The boy leaned back in his seat, listening to the swearing. He kept his eyes, glued on the road, watching cars and people.

The taxi pulled up at some traffic lights. The driver was impatiently drumming on the steering wheel with his fingers. Luffy glanced at his hand. It was sweaty, leaving wet handprints on the wheel and the man's fingers looked more like grilled rissoles than fingers. The boy was able to see his face in the rear-view mirror. It was bloated with big and drooping cheeks, which were treating to capture the rest of his face and little eyes of a mouse, which right now were glaring daggers at the road. In the car was floating the heavy and suffocating smell of burgers and fries. Probably the taxi driver's usual lunch, if Luffy was right to judge by the man's enormous physique. The boy was a little bit afraid the safety belt would choke the man, but he was trying not to think so much about it.

Luffy turned his gaze back to the window, examining the pavement and the pedestrians. The people were walking hurriedly under the rain, most of them trying to protect themselves with their umbrellas, whilst there were a few like Luffy. Without jackets, without umbrellas and without hope of remaining dry. There really wasn't anything special in them. Just some strangers, some in elegant suits, others in casual clothes, walking around and passing each other.

But something caught Luffy's gaze. It was a girl with long blue hair, caught in a high ponytail. She was sitting on the stairs in front of one coffee-shop. Her shoulders were slumped forward and her head was resting between her hands. She was wearing blue, skinny jeans, black leather jacket, and black high-heeled shoes. There was _something_ in her.

The girl sensed his gaze and looked up at him. Their eyes met. She was a ghost.

The taxi set off, Luffy's gaze never leaving those icy-blue eyes. They were wide and staring intently and strenuously at his, but Luffy could see the pure surprise in them. Well, here they were becoming two. With the ceaselessly receding of the car, they were forced to break eye contact, and yet, even after the taxi had gone by this street a long time ago, Luffy could still feel the intensity of this gaze, of those intoxicating blue eyes. At least, one thing the boy was able to tell, was that she wasn't a demented ghost, which was something. _Like, really something_.

After half an hour, Luffy was drying his hair with a towel in his room. He had taken a fast shower to warm himself up, because when he had arrived at 'home', he was shivering and feeling like a drowned puppy. The raven-haired boy wasn't completely sure, how does a drown a puppy feel, but he supposed it was something similar. Luffy was currently sitting on the ground in front of the glass wall.

Aside of the fact he had been scared to death by a crazy ghost last night at this same place, he really enjoyed the view here. Everything was so calming. Outside, the branches of the pines were rocking slightly and it had started raining again. _What a surprise_. The weather here was seriously abnormal. Right now, it was gloomy and dispiriting, when a few hours ago it had been sunny and the boy had been roasting outside.

If Luffy had to be honest, probably the grim and heavy atmosphere around here was the exact thing, soothing his nerves. Yeah, he was strange. But, hey, he could see ghosts. It wasn't his fault that he was strange in other aspects too.

Luffy finished drying his hair and threw the white towel on the ground, next to him. He wondered what to do. He needed to do research about the town, but he didn't have a computer or a laptop. He had his phone, which he had so wisely charged, _finally_ , but it was going to be too difficult to do it on it. The boy sighed. He didn't want to use his brother's without permission or to ask for permission, in reality, so he didn't really have another option than to go to some library or something to use a computer. In the town, where he used to live, everyone paid on every hour they used the computer. He hoped that there would be something similar too.

Decision made. Luffy stood up and went to rummage in the drawers of one of the white bedside tables. He had a raincoat somewhere. The boy had an umbrella too, but it was a little bit _broken_ and not-so-reliable.

''Found you!'' announced Luffy in triumph. He happily waved the folded raincoat in the air. The boy's face was broadened into a grin and dimples were showing on both of his cheeks. Luffy unfolded the thing. The raincoat was made of plastic. It was from those transparent, see-through raincoats, which were usually sold on stadiums and football matches. Lu had actually bought it on one. Three bucks, but probably the best spend ever. It had survived two years and a half and a looot of pouring rains. Luffy slipped it on and put the plastic hood over his head. Underneath, he was wearing another black hoodie, but with the caption 'Thousand Foot Krutch' on it in flames, and another pair of black jeans.

The boy grabbed his phone from the floor, next to the other bedside table, and went out of his room to the bathroom. The bathroom was pretty big and it had a room connected to it with a washing machine and a dry-house. This was probably some hint from Ace that he had to wash his own clothes. He entered the small room and went to take his cigarettes from the front pocket of his hoodie, which was in the laundry basket. After he was done there, Luffy headed to the front door, meanwhile googling, where was the nearest public library.

At the time, he was out of the house, he had found one. It was 10-minutes away, which was nice because outside it was raining cats and dogs.

And indeed, after 10 minutes, Luffy was in the library, trying not to completely soak the Persian carpet, covering the _whole_ floor of the library. For a public library, this for sure was expensive. Luffy wondered how much the municipality grants it. Because aside of the Persian rugs, there too were _marble columns_ , beginning from the carpeted floor and reaching the ceiling, along with all the library. There were marble statues, here and there, the walls were painted in warm, dark red and a little bit further down the hall, where Luffy was standing now, started the enormous wooden sections, stuffed with books.

Luffy was struggling with his wet raincoat. There was a hall-stand next to him, on which the boy at first had intended to put the raincoat, but had realized the stupid thing was dripping _too_ much water on the _too_ expensive carpet.

"Need some help there?" And this was the second time this day when Luffy had been asked this question. The boy looked up, only to see a beautiful, dark-haired woman, standing in front of him. He jumped up in surprise.

_When did she even managed to get this close to me?_

"U-u-um, the ra-a-aincoat…" stuttered out Luffy. The woman arched a perfectly defined, black eyebrow. "You can't hang it up?"

"U-u-um.."

"Here, let me help," said she kindly and took the raincoat out of Luffy's hands, before the boy could protest. She hung it up and turned back to face the nervous boy.

"I'm Nico Robin, the librarian. With what can I help you?"

Luffy cleared his throat and with a loud gulp, answered, "D-do you have a computer t-that I can use?"

"Yes, follow me."

The dark-haired woman started walking down the hall and between the innumerable light brown sections. Luffy was walking slightly behind her. Her hair was waist-long and wavy. She was tall. Like half a head or so taller than him. She was slim, but just like Nami, had enormous breasts.

Her eyes were an incredible shade of dark blue. But it wasn't the shade that was making them so alluring and mysterious. They were speaking secrets, letting a person know she knew more than she said. She was wearing a long, high-waist, dark blue skirt, which was just above her knees at the front and reaching the floor at the back, and a white, filmy shirt that was elegantly tucked in the skirt.

Luffy looked at her feet. Robin walked like a… _gentlewoman_. With light, but confident steps. And she had this slight, intelligent smile on her face. This was another thing that was adding a mysterious tinge to her appearance.

The Persian rugs were absorbing the majority of the sound their shoes were creating, diminishing it to a hollow rustling. Luffy didn't notice by where they were passing, being to busy to stare at Robin's feet, fascinated by her calm, but steady gait. The white, high-heeled shoes suddenly were not moving anymore and Luffy abruptly stopped, just an inch away from burring his nose in dark hair. Embarrassed, the boy stepped back just when Robin turned around to face him. There was a kind smile, slightly spreading her lips, her eyes watching him with sparks of amusement in them. Lu nervously shifted his gaze to the side.

"The computers are here, take your time. The library doesn't close till 11 o'clock. If you need something, you can come to me. Alright?" asked the woman. The raven-haired boy just nodded. Luffy looked at the few wooden tables with computers and chose one seat that looked like the most secluded one. It was at the second closest table, but the boy kind of liked the atmosphere around it. Luffy remembered that he didn't ask how to turn on the computers.

He turned around, opening his mouth to ask, but close it, when he was met with empty space. The boy looked around, but the dark-haired woman was nowhere to be found. Luffy shrugged, deciding he would try turning it on by himself. He turned around again and blinked. This exactly same computer was already working. _Weird_.

The boy shuddered but nevertheless went to sit there. After he was comfortably seated in the black chair, Luffy started surfing the net. Apparently, there were _three_ cemeteries only within a radius of 2 km around their house and a hospital for mental diseases less than a kilometer away. Now, this explained a lot.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, hons, love you all XOXO


	8. 'Who's the demented ghost?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, hope you enjoy the story so far, I'm jumping out of happiness right now! So many people have commented recently, new readers are appearing - Safa, Amrais, Yaht_Zee, Bailey Pockemon and my regular ones, like perveritatemvis are making me happier and happier with every comment they leave on the story. I am looking forward to broadening our little family here (hope this doesn't sound strange, I've seen many authors and you-tubers do it and I find it really sweet and yeah, I really hope you don't mind me referring to you all as our little family here XOXO, but if there is a problem, please inform me). 
> 
> Btw, just wanting to share the algorithm, if you want more chapters: comment more because this way I know there are people who enjoy this story and I will write more because this makes me want to write more and longer chapters for you, hons!
> 
> Oh, and please tell me if you would like to see another story from me, about the past: a little bit of aristocracy, Ace King, Luffy slave or has been slave, now is warrior, they cross paths with Ace, some discoveries are made, like them being brothers (leave it to me to bring the soap opera here, hehe) or something like that. Something which involves aristocracy, Ace as a king and Luffy becoming one of the powers in the world then. Let me know if you'd like something like this XOXO

The boy decided to search more about the hospital. Or more correctly to see if he could find something about the goddamn crazy woman, who was pursuing him for literally no goddamn reason.

Luffy's fingers started drumming onto the black keyboard. He found a website that consisted only of different articles about the town. He started reading the titles and after a few minutes, he found one about a woman, named Alvida I. Mace, patient in the local hospital for mental diseases. Luffy clicked on it. Okay, she  _had been_  a patient in the hospital until 4 months ago, when she had jumped from a cliff. It was written that according to medical reports Alvida probably had broken her neck falling down the crags rather than drowning in the freezing water of the sea. She had managed to run away from the hospital on account of the transitory weakness of the security around her room. She had knocked out few of the guards and had inflicted serious wounds on doctors and nurses who had tried to stop her.  _It has been one hell of a flight._

Luffy searched more specifically about Alvida and what she had done to get herself in the hospital. According to another article, the woman was really dangerous and like really messed-up. She had been a marine. And a pretty scary one, in Luffy's opinion. Alvida was one of the most ruthless and blood-thirsty ones. The woman had killed over 100 people in a year. She had always been violent, labile and ruthless, but this had reached its peak when she had almost split open the head of one of her subordinates Cobi. Obviously, Alvida had tried to steal  _a lot_  of money from the financial resources of the marines and the boy had accidentally discovered, so when Alvida found out he knew, she went mad and tried to kill him. Luffy looked at a photo of her back then. She had been… matronly. Especially in physique.

The raven-haired boy looked at her face. Her lips were curled up and her eyes were shining with malic. But there still was a tinge of insanity in her appearance. Luffy shuddered. He, for sure, wouldn't want this scary elephant to chase him around with a mace.

 _Ohhhh, that's why it's Alvida I. Mace…_  Luffy's lips formed an 'O' in awe at the discovery. Okay, it had been pretty obvious, but he still felt kinda proud of himself making the connection.

Luffy found another article about her after she had entered the hospital. Apparently, she had lost a lot of weight, in view of her refusal to eat there. She had tried to escape a few times, but unsuccessfully. The boy saw a photo of her, being dragged by policemen a little bit before she died. She looked like an animal. Her messy dark-brown hair was covering her whole face, apart of one of her forest-green eyes which was shining with animalistic and ominous luster. There was blood dripping down her mouth. This was when she had managed to escape but had been caught soon after. When the policemen were trying to hold her still enough to put cuffs on her, in pure rage, Alvida had bit one of them, biting off a piece of meat from his hip.

Luffy shuddered. He remembered how he read one article about her life as a marine, in which was written that in her longing of striking horror into her enemies she had gone through an operation to sharpen her teeth and make their tips curved.

Okay now, this explained a lot.

The raven-haired boy wandered how nobody saw how labile she was back then. It wasn't like there were no clues. In his opinion, the surgery had been enough to make her see a therapist.

_"Because of ignorance and negligence, we lost the most precious value-life."_

Obviously, this was the case of Alvida's colleges and subordinate. Alright, this boy Cobi had  _almost_  been killed but it still counted. Those people evidently hadn't heard about Sunday Adelaja.  _This man is smart_ , thought the boy. _Or has been smart?_  Luffy wasn't sure but he liked the quote anyway.

The boy looked through the window near him. It was getting dark outside. Maybe he should be going home. Luffy cast a glance at the screen of the computer. It was half past 10 pm. Okay, he really should be going home. Ace finished work at 8 pm and even having to go to his school to give the documents to the principal, he probably was already home. Luffy hadn't asked him if he could go out and this could be really bad. Garp always punished him when he had done something without wanting permission.

The raven-haired boy rapidly got up and in no time he was in the hallway of the library, hurriedly putting on his raincoat. He knew his brother wasn't the same person as Garp but he didn't want to risk it. Outside was still raining. Luffy could hear the sound of the raindrops hitting the ground and the building. There were a thunder and a lightning soon after.

''Are you done with your work?"

Luffy jumped up with a squeak and turned around to look at the dark-haired woman. Robin was laughing softly with her hand in front of her mouth. The sound resonated in the hallway, slightly calming Luffy's nerves. The boy embarrassedly puffed out his flushed cheeks and looked at his trainers, nervously starting to fumble with the hem of his raincoat.

"I hope you have found an useful information," said Robin with a kind smile and amusement dancing in her eyes. Luffy shyly looked up at her through his long black lashes.

"U-u-m yeah."

"I'm glad, feel free to come here anytime you want. We usually open at 7 am and close at 11 pm, but if you want sometimes you can stay later than this."

Luffy nodded.

"Have a nice evening," wished him Robin with a smile.

"T-thanks, y-you too," answered Luffy and turned to the door, trying to put the plastic hood over his head. He struggled a few seconds, but couldn't manage to put it on. The beautiful dark-haired woman approached him with amusement and took the hood out of the boy's hands. She gently took the hood of his black hoodie and put it on his head first and after this the plastic one of the raincoat. She fixed it, so it was nicely framing Luffy's round face and perfectly covering his hair. She tenderly tapped his button nose, making the boy wrinkle it. Robin chuckled and stepped back.

Luffy touched his nose with rosy cheeks.

"T-thanks."

"You're welcome," said Robin with a smile.

The raven-haired boy turned around and opened the big wooden door. At least now, he had some answers, but why the mental Alvida was pursuing him, was still a mystery. After he was outside in the pouring rain, he tried to remember in what direction he should head to go home. From where did he come anyway? Luffy looked around and decided that it had been from the left.

And after 10 minutes he was lost again. Like seriously. How was he doing it anyway? The boy sighed. He looked around. He was in some blind, really dirty, alley. There was rubbish all over the ground and a big heap of trash in one of the corners, which consisted of pasteboards, rags, scraps and cores, and of something scarily looking as a dirty wig. And it stank. Like  _really_ stank. Luffy wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant smell. He thought it was probably coming from the strange heap in the corner.

Luffy looked at it in thought. He wondered if he should try to return to the library or test his orientation and try to find his house. At the moment he thought about it, the boy realized that maybe it was a bad idea. He was going to use Google Maps or some kind of GPS if he knew the name of his street.

_I should have asked Ace at least about this._

Luffy sighed in desperation. He was just going to turn around to go out of the alley when a husky voice stopped him.

"What're you looking at, brat?"

Luffy almost screamed. He realized he had been staring at the heap of trash which, apparently, wasn't a heap of trash, but a homeless man, surrounded by his property and his food.

"Ya, hear me, filthy kid?" growled out the waif and started standing up from the muddy ground.

"N-n-nothing, s-sir! I-I-I'm s-sorry for b-bothering y-you!" stuttered Luffy with a trembling voice. The raven-haired boy ran out of the alley and kept running a few minutes more until he was completely sure the man was not following him. Luffy was breathless. He leaned against the brick wall of some building, trying to calm his breathing and his racing heart. After a few minutes, the boy decided that he should keep going if he wanted to be home before midnight.

Luffy started hurriedly walking down the street. It still was raining ducks and drakes. It was getting colder and colder with every second and it was pitch-dark. Only a few street lamps were throwing a dim light, which was the only reason why Luffy was able to see. He shivered from the cold wind that was blowing in his face. The plastic hood of the raincoat wasn't helping him much. The boy's hair was soaked. At least his clothes were still pretty dry.

He turning left at one corner. A big mistake. One big, big mistake. The dim light was enough for him to see the enormous rat which went between his legs. Luffy jumped up and tried to get away from the dark-grey rat, with his glowing red eyes and yellow, sharp teeth, only to slip on the wet ground and fall face-first on the pavement. The boy hit his nose and groaned in pain. He tried to stand up, putting his hands on the side-window of some car next to him. At least the rat had been scared out of his wits by his fall and had run away.

 _At least this_ , thought the boy.

"What are you doing to my car?"

Luffy turned around to see the source of the voice. The boy wished he hadn't done it and had simply run away. In front of him was standing a tall man, probably a good 6'4-5, who was wearing a black, tight-fitting T-shirt, the sleeves of which looked as if they were going to be ripped by his enormous biceps, and a pair of black jeans and black trainers. He had three, oblong golden earing on his left ear. He had green hair and eyes in the same emerald shade.

There was a sudden flash of lightning and Luffy managed to take a good look at his face. Strong jaw, long roman nose, high cheekbones, almond-shaped, sharp eyes, a stubble beard, and tanned skin. He was handsome. And intimidating.

Luffy gulped and stepped back. He felt so vulnerable and small compared to this man, who had pretty much the same physique as his big brother. The man's piercing gaze was taking in his every movement.

"Do I need to repeat the question?'' asked the man with an arched eyebrow and arms, crossed in front of his broad chest. His voice was deep and hoarse, and Luffy didn't miss the threatening note in it and the nasty glint in his eyes. He could see how he was scanning and estimating him, calculating the new information.

"N-n-o, I-I w-was j-just, u-u-m…"

The boy kept stuttering, trying to find the right words, while he was squirming under the ominous man's piercing gaze.

"You what?" snarled the man, taking a step forward. Luffy stepped back again and his back pressed against the cold surface of the car's window.

"I-I, just saw a rat, jumped but slipped on the ground, and I couldn't get up, so I leaned against your car and I stood up and then you came," rambled the raven-haired boy with the speed of light and looked at the ground and started to nervously play with his raincoat. There was silence for a few seconds and then the man spoke, "Move."

Luffy lifted his head and hurriedly stepped aside. The minacious man passed by him. He opened the door of his car, which appeared to be black Zenvo ST1. Okay, was everyone goddamn rich in this town? Luffy felt like he should be happy about even being able to touch such an expensive car. And what was up with this obsession with sports cars?

While the boy was busy wondering, the car was receding in the distance. Luffy suddenly realized how late it was and worriedly started wandering in the alleys. In the end, he somehow managed to find the library and after this, he was lucky enough to coincidently go in the right direction. Unfortunately, when he finally managed to get home, it was past midnight.

* * *

Right now, the shivering and soaked raven-haired boy was standing in front of his house, highly hoping that Ace was asleep. Silently praying for this, he scanned his eyes with the scanning device, installed in the wall of the building, right next to the dark, wooden door. After it was open, Luffy carefully went into the house, trying to make as less noise as possible. With stealthy steps, he headed to the spiral staircase, but when he was about to put one of his dripping wet trainers on the first star, Ace spoke.

"Where were you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENT, HONS! XOXO


	9. 'Ace caught me'

 

 

"I-I..u-um…" stuttered Luffy out, nervously playing with the wet plastic material of the raincoat. There were droplets rolling down its thin fabric, slowly falling down on the wooden floor.

The boy was standing with his back to the glass staircase, facing his big brother with his head bowed down. Ace was watching him intently with arms crossed over his broad chest, which was cladded with a tight, white T-shirt. He was wearing grey pajama bottoms that, from what Luffy could see from the waistband in the brief second he dared to look at his brother, were Calvin Klein. The boy was anxiously doing his best to not move in the slightest. Beads of cold sweat were starting to form on his back. He could feel Ace's piercing gaze burning a hole in his head.

"I-I w-was, u-um, ju-ust in the l-l-library," said Luffy, the vexation clear in his tremulous voice. He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut of dread. Ace didn't respond with anything. A heavy silence settled between them. The raven-haired boy could sense how his whole body was starting to tremble and his bottom lip to quiver. He just wanted to disappear. His brother was obviously angry with him and Luffy could feel a beating coming.

He squeezed his eyes even tighter, feeling how the big X-like scar on his chest was beginning to itch. It was a fairly old wound and it wasn't possible for it to actually itch, but Luffy could feel how the memories of the pain, the insults, the hits, the burns, and the cuts were slowly and mercilessly eating away his long ago healed skin. If he could just forget everything. But no. The past was going to chase him forever and the scars, scattered all over his body, were always going to be there to remind it to him.

Luffy opened his eyes and looked at his soaked, worn-out shoes. A bitter smile found its way on the raven-haired boy's lips. His face acquired blank expression, his eyes turning dull and glassy. As if the life had been drowned out of them.

_Well, I guess I deserved everything back then and I deserve it now too._

He guessed that if his grandfather had done those things to him, probably he merited it and if Ace decided now to beat him up, he would have merited it.

_Yeah, that's right. I deserve it._

Those 3 words were always echoing in his head. They were like an unremitting mantra that Luffy used to explain everything happening in his life. Pessimistic but true. The corners of his mouth moved slightly upwards, widening his wry smile.

"Until now?"

Ace's rhetorical question took Luffy out of his trance and the boy blinked, coming back into reality and again, he was his usual stuttering self.

"I-I got l-lost a-and I-I c-couldn't f-find t-the w-way b-back a-at fi-irst, u-um…"

His big brother eyed him from head to toe, taking in his soaked appearance, and after a few seconds said, "Change your clothes and go to bed." After which Ace went past him and started climbing the stairs, moving his shoulders in a circular motion and limbering up. Luffy looked at his back guiltily, being pretty sure he had woken him up. The boy could feel the culpability making his stomach clench. He bit his lip.

Luffy stayed there for a few more seconds and suddenly realized that he probably should do what his big brother had told him to do. He hurriedly went upstairs, being careful to not make any noise.

The boy managed to soundlessly reach his room. He turned on the lighting and looked around. His coal black eyes scanned the room for clean clothes and a towel. They landed on the white towel which he had carelessly thrown to the ground in front of the glass wall when he was drying his hair previously this day. Luffy went and lifted it off the floor. It was still damp. The boy sighed. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, after all, to just leave it there. Now he had to find another. The problem was that he wasn't entirely sure where Ace stored them. He had found this one on top of his bed yesterday and his big brother didn't tell him anything more about those things.

Actually when he was thinking about it know, Ace didn't explain him too about how to use the washing machine and the dry-house. Well, indeed, he told him to ask if he had questions about something in the house, but Luffy didn't really think it would be a great idea to go and bother his brother right now. Instead, he started rummaging through every place possible in his room for a towel.

His room was actually really nice. And luxurious. Something with which Luffy was really unfamiliar. Back then at his hometown, when he used to live with his grandfather, his room was 4 or more times smaller than this one and consisted of a shabby single bed with a dirty mattress that had probably sunk long before he was born, of an old metal desk with a scratched surface, a chair of the same material and a single bedside table, which was barely standing, with two drawers for his clothes. But now…

In Luffy's eyes, this room was enormous. Aside from the imposing glass wall, there was his king-sized bed which was white and had sheets in the same color and how he had discovered last night it was extremely soft and comfortable. On its sides, there were placed two white bedside tables in which Luffy had already arranged his clothes. He didn't have a wardrobe but he didn't really need one, because his clothes for sure weren't enough to fill even a third of one of the smallest wardrobes existing. There also was a big white mat, sprawled on the dark wooden floor that the raven-haired boy was sure was going to become an object of many naps. _And speaking of naps…_ Luffy yawned and sleepily rubbed his eyes. _Sleeping sounds soo nice._

He suddenly straightened up his back and pulled at his puffy cheeks a few times in order to wake himself up. _I'm not sleeping before I take a shower!_ mentally said the boy, blinking a few times.

Luffy started ransacking his room faster. There was the big hall-stand next to the door with a wooden wall cupboard for his shoes. Ace had told him to take off his shoes and carry them to his room unless he was going to wear them the next time he was going out and if so, that he could leave them in the hallway next to the front door.

_Thinking of which, Ace is actually a pretty tidy guy. He really doesn't like something to not be at its place._

The boy had to be careful to not create a mess if he didn't want to make his big brother angry.

He had a balcony too, on which he still hadn't gone. The lighting was built in the ceiling and he had buttons next to his bed to turn it off and on. There was his white desk with a nice snivel chair that had a white pillow on it. Speaking of pillows, there were a few big, fluffy ones scattered on the floor for him to sit on if he wanted to. Across his bed was placed an enormous TV screen, which was taking a third of the white wall and next to it, there was an outline of a door or something like that, but Luffy decided he won't be curious, because if his brother hadn't told him about it, it was none of his business.

A sudden noise coming from above drew his attention. Luffy looked up. It was coming from the ceiling. No, not from the ceiling. Exactly there was the loaf. The boy narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his forehead when he heard the same strange noise again. It was like the crackling of _footsteps_. But oddly enough, it was like the clatter of _child's_ or even _baby's_ feet. And there was it again.

Luffy stood without stirring, breathing slowly and silently. The warm air was coming lazily and without a sound from his slightly opened mouth. A long time ago the boy had learned that this way you're creating less noise. Good to know, if you had been raised by an abusive grandfather, who worked as a part of the military and was also a _really_ heavy drinker.

The rattling didn't repeat again. Luffy stared at the ceiling a few more seconds and decided to believe it was a rat. He just didn't have enough energy to make investigations or to freak out right now.

In the end, he gave up on searching those towels and just took some clean clothes with him to the bathroom. He was going to be fine with the damp towel. After going in there he went in the small laundry room, which he just decided to name like this, and threw his clothes in the laundry basket.

_Jeez, if I throw my clean clothes like this I'll have to learn to use the washing machine soon_. The boy sighed. This already was his last clean pair of jeans. Yup, the washing machine definitely would be figured out tomorrow. Well, he would have to figure it out if he wanted clean clothes. Luffy just hoped he wouldn't flood the floor. Or the house.

When he was about to leave and go to _finally_ take a shower, he saw that there was a cupboard built in one of the walls. Many cupboards actually. And the reason he hadn't noticed them before, was that they were kind of _way too high_ for him to reach. Luffy went to one of them and stood on his tiptoes, trying to reach it. After a few minutes of waving his small and short hand in the air like a madman, he tried jumping and on his sixth attempt, he managed to open it. With one more leap, he pulled out a towel, toppling down the others on his head.

_What a nice night,_ thought Luffy and with a pout, started removing the white towels from his head and putting them back in the cupboard. Well, at least he found dry ones and even a smaller one, which he supposed was for his hair. The fluffy towels were brand new and they smelled nice. The boy wondered if his brother does the laundry himself or brings it to a dry cleaning.

But there was a washing machine there so it probably was the first one.

Luffy took a shower and after drying his hair and smoking a cigarette on his balcony, which appeared to be really nice, the raven-haired boy found himself comfortably snuggled in a nest of sheets and pillows.

_I can get used to this._ The boy sighed contently, closing his eyes and cuddling into the nearest pillow.

And there was this clutter again. Luffy opened up his eyes and looked at the ceiling. There was a creaking sound, followed with a muted rattle. The silent noises were echoing deafeningly through the house. For a brief moment, Luffy wondered if Ace was hearing it too. But no, there was no way.

_It's a rat,_ thought Lu. _Just a small, helpless, adorable rat with yellow, adorable teeth. Yup, adorable and cute. Fluffy, with soft years and it is whisking its tail. Likes to chase balls and sticks and to carry them back to you, they are loyal friends…_ Okay, maybe he was thinking about a dog, but still.

The raven-haired boy pulled the covers up to his button nose. He closed his eyes and snuggled even more in his hand-made nest, curling up in a ball.

There was another rattle.

_I-It's a r-rat._

The next day, Luffy woke up pretty early. When he had grabbed his phone from the bedside table, on its screen was written 5:37 am. Pretty damn early, but he just didn't feel like sleeping more. So the boy rose up from his bed, shining brighter than the sun, which hadn't risen yet, with his messy black hair and sleepy eyes, and went to take a fast shower. After he was done, he went downstairs to make to himself, and to the sleeping Ace, coffee.

He didn't really know how his big brother liked his coffee so he made him a black one and ransacked the cupboards and the fridge for sugar, milk, and cream. Luffy carefully placed the steaming mug on the bar. For a moment the raven-haired boy wondered if he should put a pad or something under the hot cup because he didn't want the glass of the bar to crack, but after this, decided that it was probably enough expensive to be thick enough and to not crack. Or at least he hoped so. He put the sugar and the other products next to the mug, adding an apple.

Luffy used to do breakfast every morning for Garp. Well Garp, _insisted_ on having breakfast and coffee every morning. He would usually wake up early, before his grandfather, and he would make him scrambled eggs and bacon with a cup of coffee with a single lump of sugar.

Luffy would've liked to make Ace breakfast too, but he didn't know what his brother liked. Maybe he should ask him?

After he was ready with everything, the boy grabbed a green apple and his mug and went outside in the garden. It was really beautiful, but Luffy was surprised that there _actually_ were any flowers in it, having in mind the crazy weather. But, indeed, there was a big circle made entirely of flowers, surrounding a gorgeous bower, in the middle of which was placed a big table that was perfectly made to accommodate its shape. On the seats of the bower were placed many white pillows.

Luffy went carefully there, avoiding the muddy puddles, covering the ground. There were trimmed deep-green grass, rose-bushes, and magnolias in the whole garden. The boy stepped on the grey stones that were making a path through the circle of flowers, which were creating a marvelous fragrance in the morning air.

Luffy reached the bower and unzipped the thin plastic cover, surrounding it, in order to get inside. He tied its ends to the pillars on both sides and went inside to sit on the tempting pillows. When he was comfortably seated and the mug and the apple were placed on the glass surface of the steel table, the boy took out of his shorts a pack of cigarettes and a blue lighter. Luffy lit up a cigarette and closed his eyes for a brief moment, to fell how the nicotine was rapidly filling his lungs. With supreme delight, he breathed the smoke out and opened his eyes to look around.

The borrow was really nice. It was made of steel and had a white roof. Its poles and the legs of the table were made to look like 3D tangles of lianas, ivies, and roses. They were incredible works of art. _Like everything in this house._

Luffy looked at the plastic cover, surrounding the borrow. Even it was so well made that at first, the boy didn't notice it and he wondered how for God's sake Ace could leave white pillows like this in the merciless rain.

The raven-haired boy brought the cigarette to his slightly swollen, because of the cold weather, red lips and inhaled. He held the smoke in his mouth, playing, tasting it with his tongue. Oh, how much he loved the taste. For him, it was like delicious tropical fruit, of which he just couldn't get enough. Maybe it was strange to most people who smoked just because, but he really enjoyed the palate of cigarettes. Not this of the flavored ones (well, Luffy didn't really mind them - after all, cigarettes are cigarettes), but this of the standard ones.

A hand grabbed Luffy's shoulder and the boy jumped.

"Calm down, it's me," said Ace, removing his big hand, which moments ago managed to cover his _whole_ shoulder. The raven-haired boy looked up with wide eyes and was met with a sharp gaze and freckled face. His big brother was hovering over him in his pajama and even with his pretty messed-up jet-black hair, he was still extremely handsome. Luffy wondered how he was doing it. In his right hand, he was holding a cup of coffee, which probably was going to be steaming right now, if there wasn't the enormous red apple placed on top of it.

"Move to the side," calmly ordered Ace and Luffy nervously complied. His big brother sat next to him and removed the apple from the cup, only to bring it to his lips and bite a mouthful of it. A piece of the fruit escaped and got in the corner of Ace's mouth and his brother licked it away, continuing to chew it.

Luffy wasn't daring to take his eyes off of him, following his every movement. The boy didn't know if it was because of Ace's physique or just because of his powerful appearance and the imposing aura around him, which was somehow thickening the air, but with every second he was feeling smaller and smaller. Everything in his brother was speaking authority and arousing respect.

Ace noticed the boy staring at him and cast him a glance with the corner of his eye, arching his eyebrow in question. Luffy was brought back to Earth by this and embarrassedly looked away, almost dropping his cigarette in the process.

"Why are you so nervous?" asked Ace, his deep voice breaking the silence.

"U-um…" Luffy didn't know what to respond to this and just started to nervously fumble with the hem of his white T-shirt. They stayed like this for some more time. Outside of the borrow, a high wind began to blow. The plastic cover was stopping it, but because of the opening which Luffy had left so the smoke of his cigarettes can get out, some cold air went inside and made the boy shiver.

This didn't go unnoticed by Ace, though, who eyed him from head to toe.

"You shouldn't have gone out like this. You'll catch a cold."

Luffy looked at his clothes. Well, his brother had a point. Aside from his thin T-shirt, he was wearing worn-out red shorts and his favorite sandals, because of which his feet were just _a little bit_ muddy. Maybe it wasn't the best choice of clothing for cold and rainy weather, but he didn't really have any other suiting pieces of clothing. His last pair of jeans was wet and in the laundry-basket and his trainers were still soaked, so…

"I-I'm s-sorry," mumbled the raven-haired boy, worriedly wiggling on the big pillow.

"Don't be sorry, but you should've put at least a jacket on."

"I-I, u-um, a-am s-sorry."

Ace sighed and Luffy bit his lip, realizing his mistake. His big brother looked at him, taking a sip from his mug. He licked his red lips and said, "Thanks for the coffee, by the way, but next time don't bring out all of those products."

"I-I'm s-so-"

"Don't say it again," interrupted him Ace, bringing a hand to his head to rub his temples. "I meant it just wasn't necessary. I don't mind drinking a black coffee."

"I-I just d-didn't k-know h-how you l-like it, a-and t-that's w-why I, u-um," stuttered the boy with trembling voice sinking to a whisper. Ace kept his piercing eyes on him for a few seconds, taking in the bowed down head with a mop of short, messy jet-black hair that had sunk between his little brother's fragile and feeble shoulders.

"I don't want you staying outside till so late at night again," said Ace, averting his eyes from the small boy, and looked at the garden. "Clear?"

Luffy nodded hurriedly.

"Good," said Ace and stood up taking the now empty cup and the core of the apple with him.

Luffy watched him disappearing in the imposing house and couldn't stop himself from wondering if he had just made his brother angry or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENT, HONS! XOXO


	10. 'Trip to the Psychiatry'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, so this is it with the already written chapters. If you want the 11the sooner, comment XOXO

 

 

 

So, having in mind how dynamic had been the previous day, Luffy felt tempted to just lay in his bed today and loll lazily there, but then he remembered what he had discovered about the demented ghost, the hospital for mental diseases less than a kilometer away and the three cemeteries. Oh, and let's not forget this blue-haired ghost that he had seen yesterday in the taxi.

The raven-haired boy sighed. Apparently, there were too many things he needed to do. Probably it wasn't going to be a bad idea to either visit the hospital or the library again. But maybe he should visit the hospital first, because contrary to the common opinion, dead people cannot wait.

Or more correctly, it was a huge mistake to think that they can wait. Especially when you can see them. And hear them. And they are kind of pursuing you.

Yup, so it was decided. He was going to the hospital first and if he had the time he would visit some of the other so tempting destinations.

Luffy extinguished his cigarette, rubbing its end on the ground and after looking around, in search of a bin, he decided to take it with him to the house, not really seeing another option of throwing it away. His brother didn't smoke, meaning there weren't any ash-trays around the house, from what Luffy knew. Maybe he should buy one himself. He probably had a few dollars left from his last salary in the casino.

The boy left the borrow, putting the plastic cover in place, and started walking to the house. After he was inside, Luffy went straight to his room to get dressed. And then he realized he didn't have any clean pairs of jeans. Perfect. Well, maybe he can do with his shorts. It wasn't this cold outside.

_But maybe I should wash my dirty clothes first._ Yup, this sounded like a good idea, having in mind that even if he does go out with his shorts now, when he returns later he still _won't_ have any clean pairs of jeans.

Luffy went to the laundry-room and taking his dirty clothes out of the laundry basket, he kneeled in front of the washing machine with the small pile in hands. The raven-haired boy placed it on the floor and looked at the washing machine in despair. Back in his hometown, his grandfather didn't really bother to buy a washing machine, believing it wasn't necessary to buy one and waste water and electricity when he had his obedient grandson to wash their clothes by hand.

And here he was now. Not having a damn idea, how to turn the thing on. He didn't want to bother his brother though, so asking Ace wasn't an option.

But what was he supposed to do?

Well, first, maybe he should rummage the cupboards for some kind of detergent or softener. Both, if he was lucky. He went to the built-in cupboards and after a minute he was holding a fancy detergent and a softener, smelling like strawberries.

Luffy decided he was going to rely on his luck, after all. The boy stuffed his clothes in the washing machine and poured the detergent and the softener on top of them. He closed the door of the expensive gadget and looked up in search of a button to turn it on.

And that was when he was met with a touchscreen. Things were getting too modern for him.

Luffy sighed and experimentally touched it once. For his surprise, the screen lightened and there was a big 'HELLO!', written on it. After this, it disappeared and there were a few icons with the respective function of the washing machine. Luffy read them and decided that a 'NORMAL/CASUAL' wash would do just fine. He clicked on it and there was an 'ACCEPTED' and 'HAVE A NICE DAY!' on the screen. After a few seconds, the expensive gadget was working smoothly.

And for the boy's relief, there wasn't any water flooding the room.

Luffy stood up from his kneeling position and went to his room to put a hoodie over his white T-shirt. He didn't have a problem with the cold weather, having in mind the freezing winter nights, which he had spent sleeping on the doormat in front of their shitty apartment, but he wasn't a complete masochist. If he was going to walk around in his pajamas, he could put at least a hoodie on to compensate for the thin shorts.

The boy went back to his room and when he was properly dressed, he grabbed his phone, a pack of cigarettes, his raincoat and left the house. He wasn't completely sure if his brother had gone to work, but anyway decided that if he hadn't, he was probably getting ready and Luffy didn't want to bother him.

When he was outside, Luffy took out his phone and started searching for the hospital in Google Maps. After he had traced his route, the boy went to the back of their house, where the wood was starting. Apparently, the hospital was _in_ the wood, which was making everything even creepier. Okay, like seriously who for God's sake, would build a goddamn _psychiatry_ in a forest. Like, _why_?

Those same thoughts were running through Luffy's head, when, after 5 minutes or so, he was lying on his stomach in the dirt. He had fallen face-first in a _deep_ muddy puddle after he had been discourteously tripped by one _very_ unpolite root.

The boy wrinkled his nose, when he sensed some mire, going in it. He hoped that at least there weren't any worms or other kinds of bugs living in the mud. For a moment, Luffy imagined how there were adipose, red worms crawling in his nose and climbing up its mucous membrane, trying to reach his brain and lay their eggs there.

_Ooookay_. Shuddering at the thought, Luffy stood up rapidly and started rubbing his nose, endeavoring to expel the non-existent worms from it. After making sure there weren't any _actual_ worms up his nose, the raven-haired boy looked at his surroundings. He took out his phone and looked at the map.

Well, according to Google Maps and the blue dot, which was supposed to be him, Luffy was on the right way. Trying to ignore the sting coming from his chafed and bloody knees, the boy leaped across the muddy puddle and started walking again, staring at his phone, but casting a glance or two at the ground every few seconds.

He was passing by trees and bushes. The wood was nice. Everything was in such a deep-green and the odor of pines and resin was floating in the air. The boy took a deep breath and closed his charcoal eyes, enjoying the delightful fragrance. If it wasn't the psychiatry, Luffy might have enjoyed going for walks every day in the forest.

The loud rustling of leaves caught Luffy's attention and the raven-haired boy forcefully opened his eyes. He looked around. Nothing. Crows cawed over his head and the boy lifted his gaze to look at the sky. He was met with a whole nock, blocking the, somehow or other, exiguous sunlight.

They had flown off of a bunch of trees a little bit forward in the forest. Not too far away from him. It was unusual for a whole nock to fly away in such a rush and in such a bad weather.

It had started to slightly drizzle after he left his house. Now it was pouring and there were lightings, tearing the sky.

This meant only one thing. Something had scared them.

Moving under the thick branches of one of the pines for shelter, the boy took out of his hoodie a box of cigarettes. Red Marlboro. He loved this shit. Those were one of his favorites. But then again - cigarettes are cigarettes. Yeah, there were some he would prefer to smoke, but he wasn't going to turn down even white Karelia.

He pulled out one from the pack and lit it. At this very moment, he was really happy that he invested in a windproof lightener. It was light-blue and had a square shape with a cap. On its front was written 'One Piece' with white letters. _Hmm, probably the brand?_

The boy looked at his phone for the last time and put it in the pocket of his hoodie, not wanting to get it wet. Apparently, the hospital was in the same direction as the place from where the crows had flown off. He sighed.

After a big inhale of the nicotine, Luffy breathed the smoke out and his feet started moving. He pulled forward the hood of his raincoat along with the one of his black hoodie, in order to shield his face from the brutal wind and the heavy raindrops, falling down mercilessly.

Unfortunately, it didn't take Luffy a long time to arrive there. This meant, that the boy was just about to meet the person or the _thing_ , that frightened the nock so much. Didn't he have a pleasant life?

With every second, his steps were becoming stealthier and stealthier. Luffy slowed down his breathing as much as possible, trying to make it noiseless. He was careful where he was stepping, not wanting to give straightaway his whereabouts.

One voice in his head was saying to him to be extremely cautious. Luffy made the wise decision to listen to it. There was just something wrong with this place. The closer he got, the more cold shivers went down his spine.

And he just couldn't figure out what it was. It was the same as back then when he saw Ace's house for the first time. The whole atmosphere around the place was just off.

The raven-haired boy took a few more steps forward and now he was able to see the psychiatry not too far in the distance. Parts of its gray concrete roof, the white walls and the small windows with bars were showing between the needles of pines and the thick leaves of bushes.

A movement near the building caught Luffy's attention. The boy narrowed his eyes and carefully inched behind one pine. He stood there for a few seconds, his front pressed against the damp bark of the tree, having the only protection of his plastic raincoat against the moisture, left from the raindrops.

Lightening cut through the sky, illuminating the forest. It had become almost pitch-dark in the wood, thanks to the black clouds blocking the sunlight. Luffy saw a silhouette near one of the walls of the building. A thunder followed soon after.

With curiosity winning over fear, the boy knelt on the ground and started crawling forward, slinking by bushes and fallen branches. He cut his hand on some rock and blood started leaking out, but Luffy didn't seem to notice. His coal black eyes were fixed on the silhouette.

It wasn't a ghost, but a person. Maybe this should have calmed him down a bit, but it did exactly the opposite. This was supposed to be the back of the hospital for mental diseases, which meant that if this person was here for a visit, they shouldn't be here, but at the front, where the main entrance was.

A sudden pain, coming from one of his hands, made Luffy look down. He lifted his palm to look at it. There was an _enormous_ thorn stuck in it. The boy sat back on his legs and tried to take it out. A hiss escaped his lips when the prickle started leaving his skin.

After one long, agonizing pull the thorn was out and more blood started coming off his covered with scratches hand. The red liquid mingled with the grime and the mire, encasing his pale skin. It looked gross, but he had seen worse.

Luffy wiped his hand in his red shorts and looked at the psychiatry that was now in less than 150 meters away from his current position. There were some bushes near him and the boy decided to crawl behind them because they looked thick enough to hide him completely.

When he was as comfortable as possible in one muddy puddle, Luffy's eyes settled on the open field, separating the hospital from the wood, in search of the shady person.

It took the boy a few seconds to spot them. Apparently, it was a man.

He was tall and square-built. His pretty long hair with a strange purple tint to it was falling down his back. There was a dark hat on top of his head. A long, extremely warm-looking, black coat was protecting him from the merciless wind and the rain. For a moment, Luffy felt jealous of him. In the end, it appeared that his thin shorts and hoodie weren't the best choice of clothing for a trip to the forest.

He was standing under one of the windows on the first floor and his head was slightly tilted back. He was impatiently drumming on the ground with his left foot.

The stranger looked as if he was expecting something to happen.

Luffy narrowed his eyes at the thought. _What can this man possibly do here?_ If he wasn't here for a visit, maybe he was just lost, but then again - why was he standing here under the rain and not going in the building to ask the staff for directions?

The boy's track of thought was interrupted by the sudden opening of the window. A pale hand squeezed through the rust-eaten metal bars and threw something in the waiting hands of the muscular man. He caught it and the window was closed once again.

The stranger swiftly turned around and Luffy hurriedly stooped to the ground. The thorns of the bushes were scratching his face, but at this moment he couldn't care less. His charcoal-black eyes were fixed on the man or more specifically, on his wide maniacal grin.

He was tanned and had a rough-looking face. He had a long beard, which had the same strange light-purple tinges to it. Smiling from ear to ear, the man inspected the thing which the person from the psychiatry had thrown to him. Satisfied with what he saw, he tucked it in his black topcoat and licked his lips - his abnormally long, snake-like tongue, slowly wetting the skin.

Luffy shuddered. Aside from the man's impressive physique, there was just something atrocious about him. It wasn't just the animalistic and dismaying smile. It was his whole appearance. Even if he was wearing expensive clothes and obviously, was a _human_ , the raven-haired boy couldn't help, but to associate him with an animal.

A small bug flew out of the bush near his face and alighted on Luffy's nose. Startled, the boy gave his best not to move in the slightest or to scream by instinct. The black creature started making its way towards his nostrils, tickling his skin.

_Don't sneeze. Don't sneeze. Don't sneeze._

Luffy could feel his eyes watering from the effort. The bug was seriously trying to torture him. It had started to walk around the tip of his nose to his nostrils and back.

_Don't sneeze. Don't sneeze. Don't sneeze._

If he sneezed the man would instantly know that he was there and God knows what would happen after this. Well, apparently, the impertinent bug didn't care if he was going to be beaten up, killed or eaten alive. _Yeah, and then people are ignorant creatures._ Luffy mentally snorted.

The boy watched the black thing having its Sunday walk on his nose and obviously, because, of course, that wasn't enough, it decided to go _in_ his nostrils. He watched how the bug disappeared and sensed its tiny legs, moving on the inside of his nose.

This time he couldn't help it.

He sneezed.

The bug flew away. The bushes around him shook and some of the leaves flew off in the air. Luffy started rapidly rubbing his button nose, trying to get rid of the feeling that something was walking in it. After this he wiped away the tears, running down his flushed cheeks. This was one hell of a sneeze.

Luffy froze. The realization that he made his presence _pretty_ obvious, suddenly hit him. _Damn._ Startled, the boy lifted his filled with fear and worry gaze to look at the man, who was now staring at him.

His satisfied smile had disappeared and it had been replaced with a dark smirk.

Luffy gulped.

The man thrust his hand in his coat. His eagle eyes, filled with something that the boy didn't want to see up close, were not leaving his coal-black ones.

Luffy stayed there, deaf to everything in him that was screaming to him to stand up and run. He just sat on the dirty ground, watching paralyzed how the deep-chested man slowly pulled out a long blade from his coat. Tardily, he brought it to his lips and his tongue swarmed rapaciously over its shiny surface.

Ooookay, now this was clearly his signal to run. The boy was just about to stand up and put his shaking legs into action when a muted from the rain and the wind ringing reached his ears.

The minacious stranger looked down with annoyance written on his face. He brought a telephone out of the front pocket of his greatcoat and moving his clouted in black gloves fingers over the touchscreen, he answered it.

The conversation lasted only a few seconds and Luffy was too far away to hear any of it anyway. He didn't even have the time to think about running when the man hung up his phone and looked at his direction again. He let out what appeared to be a heavy sigh and disillusioned, put the blade back in his top garment.

A few seconds passed without them breaking eye-contact. Luffy could feel a cold sweat beginning to break out from the skin on his back. The dread and the lack of knowledge of what was going to happen were slowly getting the best of him. His hands were trembling more and more with every second, his bottom lip beginning to quiver. The sinister stranger's grin kept widening until it was almost splitting his face in half.

There was a lightning.

The sudden brightness managed to blind the raven-haired boy and by the time a thunder followed, the man was gone.

Luffy rubbed his eyes a few times and afterward, he let them rapidly wander over the open field, in search of the ominous stranger.

The rain started falling down in torrents. The heavy raindrops were drumming on leaves, needles, and branches, creating a natural symphony of sounds. The air was fresh with a tinge of moisture, which was normal, having in mind that it was raining after all.

In any other situation, the boy would have found it relaxing and probably he would have wanted to find shelter under some tree and take a nap. But right now, the humidity was suffocating him and the water pouring from the overcast sky was making him like blind and deaf to what was happening around him.

Luffy bent further into the bush, trying to see where the man was. There was no way that he was already in the forest. Only a few seconds had passed since he lost sight of him. If he knew the stranger's exact whereabouts, he had a greater chance of escaping him.

The boy could feel his heartbeat in his ears. A vein on his temple was furiously pulsating. His breathing was rapid and shallow. His palms, buried in the mud, were sweating.

_There._

Next to the right corner of the building, there was a silhouette. Luffy narrowed his eyes and scooted a little bit further. He wasn't breathing anymore. The silhouette was standing still, almost glued to the white wall of the psychiatry.

The thing was that it was smaller than the man's figure.

_Someone else?_

No, not _someone,_ but something. That there was a ghost.

The silhouette started moving again, disappearing between the trees next to the hospital's corner.

_Where did it go?_

Luffy was really becoming terrified right now. It wasn't only the mad stranger, who had blades and who knows what else stocked in his coat, now there was a ghost, in the forest with him, probably a demented one, having in mind that they were next to a goddamn psychiatry.

The panic was slowly becoming to build up in the small and fragile body of the raven-haired boy.

_I'm going to die here._

Luffy pulled at the front of his hoodie, trying to make room for himself to breath. There was a painful clenching in his chest, around his lungs, and he didn't know what to do about it. The boy shut close his eyes, squeezing them into slits on his child-like face. His red lips were slightly parted, allowing the clouds warm air to leave his mouth.

_I'm going to die here. I'm going to-_

"What are you doing here?" asked a quiet voice right next to his right ear, the warm breath tickling his skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENT, HONEYS, XOXO!


	11. 'Vivi'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DO YOU THINK I SHOULD DELETE THIS CHAPTER AND REWRITE OR IT IS FINE?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys? How you have been doing? I want to apologize for not updating sooner! I had something like an author-block and I just reached a point in the chapter, where I just didn't know how to write what I wanted. And at first I decided to leave it like this for a few days, but then I returned to it, I started writing and realized I'm writing everything horribly and after half an hour I just stopped, because I was writing bullshit. Well, I realize that this doesn't really have anything to do with you guys, and I'm going to post a chapter every two days to compensate to you, probably like, for two weeks maybe? I have a few questions for you, so please keep reading.  
> 1\. First, I think this chapter turned out horribly! Well, I can still hope that it's all in my head, but... I just don't think it is. Even if I know the chapter is terrible, I still wanted to post it, because, in reality, I wrote what I wanted to write, but I simply put, wrote it horribly, at least, in my opinion. Especially, Luffy's thoughts, which you'll see, I think I just described everything illogically and VERY unrealistically. My idea was to write how Luffy starts recalling stuff from the past and how, because of all the years of all kinds of abuse - psychological, verbal and physical, he thinks that Garp was maybe right that he deserved to die, that he deserved all kinds of pain and etc. and how in such moments like the one in the chapter he couldn't help but to unintentionally recall that kind of things, but doesn't really realize he is doing it and that he is implanting them in a situation in which there is nothing similar. I know it all sounds really confusing, but AAAAAAA. OMG, I'm a horrible writer. I don't even know if you have understood anything about what I just wrote, but if you have please share your opinion if did a good job or not. I really hope it's all in my head like always, but I just think this time it isn't.

**GUYS, I THINK I REALLY MESSED UP THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE READ MY NOTES AT THE BEGINNING, SO YOU KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT, BUT IF YOU DECIDE NOT TO, PLEASE SAY IN THE COMMENTS IF I SHOULD DELETE THIS CHAPTER OR NOT. I REALLY THINK IT TURNED OUT HORRIBLY.**

* * *

 

Luffy shrieked.

To be damned the mad people and the ghosts in the forest,  _right now_  there was  _someone_  behind him, who just spoke in his ear.

The boy promptly jumped from his sitting position and crawled on all fours further in the bush, trying to scoot away from the source of the voice. He practically pricked out his left eye on one of the thorns of the green bush in hurry to run away.

Eventually, after a wrestling match with fibrous branches and pointed prickles, Luffy found himself tangled in the plant, face to face with a girl around his age.

Ignoring the pulse, drumming in his ears and his shallow breathing, he couldn't help but take in her long, light blue hair, tied up in a high ponytail and her intoxicating, icy-blue gaze. He narrowed his eyes.

_Blue hair, those eyes…_

Somewhere in his head, a bell rang and the raven-haired boy's eyes widened.  _The ghost from yesterday._

For a moment they stood still, examining each other.

The girl was presumably a little older than him. Eighteen or nineteen maybe? She had an oval, clean face with pale skin. Her eyes were round, much like his own, but in contrast to his, they were gorgeous and the shade of the iris - matchless.

It was an incredible and abnormal shade of pale-blue. At first, he called them icy-blue, by instinct, but looking at them up close, they were  _literally_  like ice. They reminded him of cold, but pleasant winter, fresh air and snow, but at the same time, in contradistinction from the shade, there was something warm and comforting in them. It instantly made Luffy relax his tensed body and calm his racing heart and rapid breathing.

She had this thin nose and long black eyelashes for which many models would die for and the perfectly shaped eyebrows that surprisingly were blue too. Her hair, despite being held by a black rubber band, was a span away from reaching her waist.

The girl was wearing the same clothes as last time - skinny blue jeans, black leather jacket, and black, velvet, high-heeled shoes. The end of a jet-black lace top was showing from beneath her jacket and a lace choker was shouldering her slim neck.

She was really beautiful, but then again who, from the people he had met so far, wasn't in this town? Luffy was seriously beginning to feel like an ugly duckling around the natives - both humans and ghosts. Nami was beautiful, Robin was beautiful, this girl was beautiful, his brother was handsome and his colleagues from work too, the green-haired stranger from yesterday…

Yup, he was an ugly duckling.

The raven-haired boy's track of thought was interrupted by a soft laugh.

Luffy blinked at her, watching how the girl put a hand over her pink lips to stifle her laughter, her eyes starting to water.

"What?" asked the boy, sullenly.

"N-nothing," answered the blue-haired girl, unconvincingly and choking with laughter. Luffy continued to stare at her sulkily, not believing in anything she said. She lifted her gaze to look at him merrily. "You just look ridiculous."

"Well, sorry if so," snorted out the boy, quarrelsomely, a pout curling his puffy lips, cheeks slightly bulging.

Taking in his child-like frown, the girl couldn't hold out any longer and burst out laughing. Resonating, feminine laughter, filled the space between them, resounding in the forest. It was a beautiful sound - tuneful and amiable.

But even with these thoughts in mind, Luffy didn't even try to stop the deepening of his frown. He hummed angrily and turned his head to the side with closed eyes.

After a few seconds, the blue-haired girl wiped away a few tears that had escaped the corners of her amazing orbs and the last bits of laughter in her voice died, but the beautiful smile wasn't leaving her face.

"Okay, I'm sorry," offered she, tenderly with notes of cheerfulness. The girl leaned closer to Luffy, making him instantly shift his eyes suspiciously to her.

She peeked over the raven-haired boy's shoulder, looking at the situation going in the bush.

"Swirl your left wrist a little bit and pull it out carefully from behind your back. This way I think you would be able to free it, without cutting yourself," said the girl thoughtfully with a delicate hand over her chin, after a short inspection.

Luffy just sat there, staring at her.

"Come on, stop pouting and do it," prodded she with a small laugh.

Luffy frowned.

"I'm not pouting."

"Oh, yes, yes, you are."

"Hmpf."

The blue-haired girl laughed at the childish frown she received for her last sentence. "You're just so cute."

Okay, now that hit a nerve.

A vein on Luffy's temple twitched.

"No, I'm not," he snapped back.

"You sure?" she teased him.

"Yes!" scowled the boy at her, narrowing his eyes.

The girl just responded with a laugh. "If you say so."

Luffy knitted his brows, looking daggers at her. The boy began opening his mouth in order to shoot something back at her when she spoke.

"Okay, so now, when we know you are not cute and definitely not pouting like a baby, how about untangling you from this brush, before you've grown together with it?"

The raven-haired boy's pout remained, but, nevertheless, he followed, the girl's instructions. Soon after he found himself sitting on his knees in a muddy puddle with a few more scratches from the sharp prickles. Well, at least now he wasn't getting intimate with a plant, so everything was okay.

Luffy turned his full attention back to the ghost.

He wasn't scared. The boy knew she was a good person. Well - a ghost. There surprisingly were such. In reality, Luffy actually had a few ghost-friends back in his hometown. They were really nice and his intuition was telling him that the beautiful young woman in front of him was pretty much like them. Kind, good-natured.

But he still wasn't planning to forget her remark about him being cute. Nope. Not until Hell freezes. Men aren't cute.

"I'm Vivi, by the way. Nice to meet you," said the girl with a warm smile and offered him a hand. Luffy blinked at her, taken by surprise.

"U-um, Luffy. N-nice to meet you t-too," responded the boy, suddenly feeling nervous. Vivi chuckled. He was adorable.

"So, Luffy, what are you doing here? This certainly is not a place most people new in town would want to visit."

"W-well.. I was d-doing a research, but…" And it hit him.

The man.

The silhouette.

Luffy's eyes widened in pure horror. They were here in the forest.  _With him_. And because of his shriek from before, they knew exactly where he was. The boy's mouth dried up and a giant lump found its way in his throat.

He was a  _corpse_.

Luffy's whole body strained and he started hectically looking around for any traces of someone else's presence. He bent forward a little bit, his hands balled into fists in the mud.

"Hey, you alright?" asked Vivi worriedly, but her words seemed to remain unheard.

How for God's sake he could have been so stupid as to scream? Or to sneeze in the first place. He was pretty much asking to get killed right now. Obviously, he had seen something which he wasn't supposed to see.

How he can be so stupid?

And the other ghost. If it was only for the ominous stranger maybe he had some chance to get away from here unharmed. But with a ghost in the picture? He just couldn't run from two things at the same time. Having in mind his luck till now, the new ghost was going to be demented too. If not even the same woman as before.

_Oh, yeah, Alvida was it?_

The raven-haired boy clenched his fists even more until the knuckles on his hands became white. His heart was racing in his chest and his breathing was becoming shallow.

"Hey, do you hear me? What's wrong?"

The girl's voice felt distant to him. As if she was talking to him through a thick glass.

 _Alvida.._  The mental woman who had killed hundreds of people. The woman with the surgically modified sharp teeth. The woman that was now pursuing him.  _Why?_

Well, obviously something about him had angered her. But what? Before coming to this town he had never seen her or heard anything about her.

But the boy guessed it wasn't surprising. He had a knack of angering people, how his grandfather always used to say.

Maybe he actually deserved to die here.  _Yeah, why not?_  What was he even doing at this place?

_What really?_

Luffy bent his head forward. His charcoal bangs fell over his eyes, casting a dark shadow over them. A bitter smile made its way on his face.

_I'm just stupid. What am I doing? I should never have come._

What was the so big deal about Alvida anyway? He knew she couldn't hurt him physically. Ghosts can't do that. Because of his ability, he might be able to sense their touch, their breath, their warmth and etc. but they can't hit him or do anything similar to that.

So why was he here? Couldn't he have just ignored her?

His breathing calmed and his body relaxed. The wry smile on his face widened.

No, of course, not.

Because of his past experience with the fortune-teller, he knew it was possible to make a demented ghost stop their pursuit. That's why, he thought that maybe if he finds out more about Alvida, he might be able to find out why he intrigued her or more correctly, why he made her mad. Of course, he had to cling on even the smallest bits of hope.

He hoped that he might be able to solve the problem, whatever it was, and send her away.

_Yeah, as if._

That was because he wasn't mentally strong enough to endure the presence of the demented ghosts around him all the time.

He wasn't capable to ignore them, when they were watching him and smiling at him maliciously, with promises for pain and suffering.

He wasn't good enough to not get scared when they were whispering to him at night how they will rip up his stomach and stuff his mouth with his own intestines, till he suffocates or dies from blood loss - which one happens first.

He couldn't help it but get terrified from their sudden appearances and how they would always bring up his biggest fears at the worst time possible, hoping to drive him mad and then tell him how he was good for nothing.

But maybe he deserved all of this. Maybe he deserved all of the suffering, all of the pain. For being so weak. So  _worthless_. Maybe he actually deserved to die here, didn't he? For never doing the right thing, for always being so stupid, for never being good enough. It was all his fault. He  _deserved_ it all. He deserved to die.

"Hey."

There was a warm hand placed on his shoulder. Luffy came to his senses. The boy was suddenly taken out from his stupor by the gentle and comforting touch. Wide, startled coal black eyes met Vivi's calm and affectionate blue gaze. The blue-haired girl had stood up and with slightly bent knees, was now hovering over him.

Luffy was just sitting there, staring up at her. His legs were folded on either side of him, next to his butt. Vivi couldn't help but associate him with a little child that simply didn't know what to do. She smiled heartily at him and said, reassuringly, "Everything is alright."

The boy watched her a few more seconds than nodded slowly. Vivi's smile widened.

"Okay. Now, do you want us to find a better place to sit because you've been sitting in a puddle of muddy water from quite some time now?"

"T-t-the m-man…" stuttered out the boy.

"Hm, what man?" asked Vivi.

"T-the o-one with p-purple h-hair a-and the kn-n-ife."

Vivi blinked. "Oh, you mean the one with the black greatcoat and the hat, who looked ready to kill you, after you sneezed, but then received a phone call? He has probably reached his car till now. He parked it near the main road close to the front of the psychiatry."

Now it was Luffy's turn to blink. This meant he was nowhere near them right now. And wait.. Main road? GoogleMaps didn't show him anything like that.

"B-but isn't h-he coming t-to.." Luffy's voice started quivering at the end of the sentence.

"Kill you?" said Vivi, lending him a hand. "No. Although he looked really disappointed that he can't do it. You saw him picking up his phone, right?" Luffy nodded. "He was told to get going because they didn't have the time or something like that. I couldn't hear more, because of the rain. But now he is not here."

"T-the o-other g-ghost?" asked the boy.

"She went in the building."

"I s-see," said Luffy with a sigh of relief.

"Come on, now. There is a wood-shed near us. Let's go there," said the blue-haired girl with a smile.

"O-okay."

The boy tried to stand up, but his legs, no, his whole body was feeling numb, thanks to the trance in which he was moments ago. He did his best to get rid of those thoughts, but he was still deeply shaken up. Thanks to Vivi, he managed to come to his senses, but the thoughts were still there. They hadn't disappeared. They were just settling in some dark corner of his mind. He knew it, but at this moment he knew he couldn't do anything about it.

Luffy gritted his teeth and with effort stood up. The blue-haired girl was watching him intently the whole time, sensing that there was something going on in his head, but remained quiet. For now.

They started walking.

Just to make sure that there really was no one behind them, the boy cast a furtive glance over his shoulder. Vivi sighed, looking at him. Luffy heard the sigh and shifted his head to the right to look at her.

"Don't you think I'm going to tell you if there is someone around us?" asked she.

"U-um…" stuttered Luffy in embarrassment and looked at his feet, biting his bottom lip. The raven-haired boy could feel how his cheeks were turning deep red.

Vivi was watching him with a cheerful smile.

"You really are cute," said the girl and laughed when Luffy's face became even more flushed.

"I-I'm not."

"Whatever you say." She winked at him with a smile, then started more seriously, "But really, back then too, when we were sitting on the ground next to the bushes, don't you think I was going to warn you if something was threatening you?"

"I-I'm sorry."

Vivi's face softened, "It's okay."

Luffy was still looking at his soaked trainers when he remembered something. "By the way, where were you standing, when you listened to the conversation this man had on the phone. I, um, didn't see you anywhere around," asked the boy more calmly now.

"There is a basement under the main building, but it isn't under the ground completely. You see the little windows there?" asked Vivi and pointed somewhere in the distance.

They were walking near the open field connecting the wood and the psychiatry, but enough far away from it, so the cameras on top of the roof, wouldn't capture them. After all, it was strange to see a soaked teenager, walking alone around the back of the psychiatry in his dirty pajama bottoms.

Luffy looked at the spot, she was pointing at, narrowing his eyes slightly. His eyesight was quite poor, but he managed to see a little square window, built in a few inches from the ground. Actually, there were many of them.

He nodded.

"Usually they leave it slightly open, in order for some fresh air to come in because it gets really moist down there. When I saw the man, I just went there to have a better view of what he was doing."

"Oh."

"But then you sneezed, I noticed you and after the man had his phone call, I came to you."

Oh, yeah. The boy was always amazed by this one of their abilities. It was going to be so cool if he could just appear wherever he wanted.

"Here are we," announced Vivi, cheerfully. Luffy blinked and shifted his gaze to the front. At not more than 15 meters away there was standing an almost hidden between trees and bushes, old wood-shed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOVE YOU, HONS! PLEASE COMMENT!!


	12. 'Wood-shed and talks'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI, GUYS! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN DOING? TODAY I HAVE 4 THINGS TO SAY! NUMBER 2 AND 4 ARE QUESTIONS FOR YOU ALL + NUMBER 3 IS ABOUT ACE!
> 
> 1\. I KNOW MANY OF YOU ENJOY MY DESCRIPTIONS, ESPECIALLY I AO3 WHERE I HAVE PUBLISHED THIS STORY TOO, THERE ALWAYS IS SOMEONE TO SAY HOW MUCH THEY LIKE MY DESCRIPTIVE WRITING. BUT I STILL WANT TO ASK YOU: DO YOU THINK I'M GOING OVERBOARD WITH MY WEATHER DESCRIPTIONS? ARE THEY TOO MUCH AND REPETITIVE? PLEASE ANSWER ME AFTER YOU'VE READ THIS CHAPTER!
> 
> 2\. MORE ACE CHAPTERS ARE COMING!
> 
> 3\. DO YOU THINK I DID A BETTER WORK WITH THIS CHAPTER THAN THE LAST ONE?
> 
> 4\. I KNOW YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH BECAUSE THERE ISN'T MUCH OF AN ACTION IN IT, BUT IT WAS NECESSARY TO BE LIKE THIS, SO THE STORY IS NICELY TIED UP.

**I KNOW YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH BECAUSE THERE ISN'T MUCH OF AN ACTION IN IT, BUT IT WAS NECESSARY TO BE LIKE THIS, SO THE STORY IS NICELY TIED UP.**

* * *

 

The wood-shed was fairly small and ready to collapse at any minute. The whole construction was made from light brown wood. The roof had a slight slant and over it was placed something resembling a galvanized sheet iron, which rather than being put by a professional builder, looked more as if someone had carelessly just thrown it there and hammered a few nails, so they can call it a day.

The wood-house was almost fully enveloped by venomous green ivy, except for two-thirds of its the front. The door was pretty small - probably wide enough only for a single person to pass through it. Two spans from it there was a miniature window, covered with a thick layer of dust, making it nearly impossible for someone to see what was inside.

Vivi and Luffy walked to the door, which appeared to be padlocked.

"Now, what?" asked Luffy, his eyes placed on the rust-eaten object.

"They usually put the key under the flowerpot over there," answered the blue-haired girl, pointing at one battered plant pot, near one of the corners of the wood-shed. Luffy looked at it and went to pick up the key.

He knelt in front of it and tried to lift it, but the damn thing was fucking  _heavy._  Plus, it was rounded by the tangled resilient stems and lobed leaves of the ivy that had pretty much grown together with it. The boy narrowed his eyes at it and tried to pull upwards again, but without success.

"Is everything okay?" asked Vivi, appearing behind his back and bending forward curiously to see why Luffy was taking so long. The plant pot was actually pretty huge. It was from those which were for small trees or big bushes, but right now there was nothing more than lots of earth in it.

"I-It's hard to-" started the boy, pulling strenuously the flowerpot a few times, "-l-lift."

"One man you are," said Vivi, teasingly. Luffy pouted and pulled again with more strength. The ivy's stems stretched and the green leaves swayed and rustled slightly. After a few more tugs, the boy could feel how the troublesome and annoying evergreen plant was loosening its grip around the ceramic dirty brown object that probably had been russet years ago.

Stubbornly, Luffy dropped his body heavily on the ground and fixed his heels into the mold. Vivi chuckled quietly in amusement, behind him. The boy gritted his teeth and grabbing the enormous thing by its sides, he pulled with all his might.

A few seconds of vigorous hauling passed and finally, the ivy decided to let go of the plant pot. Luffy couldn't apprehend fast enough that the ceramic article was already free from the tangle of leaves and stems and he fell on his back with his head hitting the ground.  _Hard._

The flowerpot fell on top of the boy, knocking the air out of his lungs and spilling its content all over him.

Vivi burst into laughter next to him, the tuneful sound filling the wood.

Unfortunately, Luffy didn't find the situation funny at all, but he couldn't even bring himself to be mad at his new ghost-friend for her reaction, being too busy to spit out the dirt in his mouth. His black hoodie was filled with soil, which had managed to even get under his T-shirt and was now tickling his bare skin.

His whole neck was covered in dirt too, as well as his face. There was even some in his hair and  _ears_ for God's sake. Oh, and in his nose. Let's not forget his nose. The poor thing had been through a lot lately.

The boy drew away from the giant object, suffocating him, and let it fall on the ground next to him. He sat up straight and continued coughing and spitting out soil. Thank God that he at least managed to close his eyes, when the plant pot fell over him. His eyesight was bad enough as it was, he didn't really need anything more to hinder it.

Nevertheless, he tried to remove the dirt from his face and hair, but there was just too much of it.

And just to make things worse it had even begun raining more. Again.

 _Like, how is it even possible?_ wondered Luffy, while rubbing his nose and cheeks. He had bent his head forward to protect himself from the rain as much as possible. Right now, he could barely see at a 2 meters distance.

There still were raindrops that managed to make it through his two-hoods-barrier and were now running down his face. The raven-haired boy continued rubbing rapidly his skin, hoping that if he was faster than the raindrops, which were mercilessly turning everything, impeding them, into a muddy mess, he might actually be able to clean himself.

After a good half a minute of terrorizing his sensitive skin, he realized that this probably had been a  _huge_  mistake. The boy was pretty sure his face was black right now.

Luffy sighed.  _You win rain._

Sometimes maybe it really wasn't a good idea one to oppose the mother nature.

_Oh, well._

The boy lifted his head up and removed both of his hoods, deciding to just let the  _nice_  weather clean him. He was completely soaked already, so why not?

He closed his eyes and crossed his slim and covered in bloody scratches legs, placing his hands on top of one of his bare calves.

The heavy raindrops started promptly falling on his face. They were cold, but he enjoyed it. Like a nipping natural massage. It was refreshing. He inhaled deeply, of course, getting some water in his nose, but he didn't really pay much attention to it.

Aside from Vivi's  _finally_  dying laughter, just like before this day, he let himself really hear the forest performing its symphony. After all that had happened today, all of those soft rustles, the drumming sounds, the buzzing of the bugs and the wailing of the wind were like tranquilizers to him.

A few seconds passed and he felt how Vivi appeared and sat next to him. Her presence actually made him calm down even more.

Luffy wondered how she was doing it. Maybe it was a good-ghosts thing? Good-ghosts thing?  _Yeah, smart,_  snorted the boy in his head.

Or maybe she was practicing it somehow?

Nah, right now he didn't really want to think about it. It was enough that she was how she was.

He took a deep breath again and felt the fresh air filling his lungs. He actually tried to imagine how the oxygen was entering his blood system with all of those annoying steps, he was studying about in his biology classes.

Annoying or not in his everyday life, they were succeeding in fully relaxing him right now.

* * *

Luffy opened his eyes, staying still for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the light. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but they were still outside - Vivi sitting at his right side, the spilled flowerpot at his left.

_That damn thing probably is still heavy even with half of its content on the ground and in my shirt._

The boy stood up and stretched his back and arms backward, arching his spine like a cat. At least now he was as fresh as a cucumber and ready to go in the psychiatry at any time. He hoped it wouldn't be more of a breaking in, but even if so - he was ready for it too.

"You ready?"

Luffy blinked and obsidian orbs turned to look at Vivi. She was smiling up at him with her hands drawn tight behind her for support.

The boy couldn't help but feel jealous of her for being able to not get her clothes and  _herself_ in general, covered in dirt. The rain had washed the visible mire from him, but there was still some under his  _pajama_ and in his hair.

At least his hoodie and T-shirt were still  _partly_ dry, thanks to his loyal raincoat.

"Yeah," answered Luffy and nodded.

"Okay, then let's go," said the girl, cheerfully. Luffy went to grab the notorious key. "By the way, when was the last time someone has come here for firewood? This thing had grown together with the hut."

"Last time, hm…" murmured Vivi in thought, placing a hand over her chin. "I think it was like 2 months ago when someone last came here."

"But don't they need, I don't know, for when it's cold. Like now? You sure no one will really come here?"

"Yes. The doctors and the nurses have air-conditioners. They only come to get some for the patients' rooms, when it's  _extremely_  cold - by this, you can understand when it's a matter of life and death and there is a high risk for them."

Luffy shuddered at her words, unlocking the door of the wood-shed.

"That's heartless," said the boy, feeling disgusted by the hospital attendants and the governing bodies.

"It is," agreed Vivi and folded her leather clothed arms in front of her chest. "But no one really cares. They economize funds this way.''

Luffy snorted at this and murmured indignantly under his nose, "People are so leprous."

Vivi heard this and her face softened. "They are."

They went into the wood-shed and the boy closed the door behind them, which was a matter of some difficulty, having in mind exactly how old was this building, but a few shoves did the job.

When they were  _finally_ inside and there were no wind and no rain, he shook off the water from his head.

Vivi chuckled quietly at him. "There should be an oil lamp somewhere around."

Luffy nodded and they started searching and ransacking the hut for it.

From the inside, it wasn't much different from the outside. It was really cramped and the air was humid. The floorage wasn't probably more than 6x6 meters. Next to every wall was unmindfully heaped firewood that was almost reaching the ceiling.

Over and next to those heaps were placed different rust-eaten woodworking and gardening tools, worn-out, dirty gloves, some strange boxes, made from solid-looking material and all types of random things, such as green hose, carving knives, paper-knives and  _scalpels_ , carelessly thrown all over the floor, sticks, ax, mousetraps, preparations and small furniture.

There pretty much wasn't even enough space for more than two people if they didn't want to be squished together or to step over  _everything_ in here.

While they were searching for the lamp Luffy was still thinking about what Vivi had said about the patients. He was kneeling in front of some cardboard box and was rummaging in it.

His mind couldn't accommodate how someone can be so cruel and obdurate to leave people to freeze to death. Didn't they have check-ups here or something? Probably they actually had, but they were bribing up the workers.

It was simply sad. How people would take advantage of those in a weaker position, which couldn't do anything to stop them, what was the case here. If the patients were rarely visited, if not at all, it probably was really easy to pull up this thing. After all who would believe a mental person, assuming that they were even  _able_ to say something, because from what he had seen in their website, here were accepting only challenging cases and people who have committed a murder.

_But still…_

Luffy narrowed his eyes and almost screamed when Vivi appeared behind him, saying she had found the lamp.

"Geez, you scared me," said the boy and pouted. The girl laughed. "Sorry."

Luffy went to get it and after it was lit and placed on the floor, he spoke, "So what're you doing here? I doubt you died in the hospital."

Ghosts tended to return to the places they died at. Usually, they weren't able to get further than 20-25 km away from it and it didn't matter if they were demented or not.

They were sitting crossed-leg on the wooden floor with the oil lamp between them, illuminating both of their faces.

"I don't really remember. I know I was driving somewhere in the mountain and it was raining. I tried to pull the car up, but there was something wrong with the brake. The last thing I remember is falling down the side of the mountain with the car. I guess I flew off of the road at one of the turns," said Vivi nonchalantly and shrugged.

It was funny how no one really was becoming uneasy talking about their death, ones they've died. They just liked talking to you pretty much. Many of them were ready to cough up their mother's milk if you wanted, just because you're willing to talk to them.

And, in reality, it didn't really matter, when you're dead.

"Do you remember anything more from your life?" asked Luffy.

It was a common thing for ghosts to not remember anything about their past life. Actually, it was more normal to not remember anything with details than to have clear memories. Of course, their character and everything  _not personal,_ they had learned in their lives - such as different languages, all kind of facts and academic things, worldly knowledge and etc. remained.

The majority of the ghosts just remembered blurredly their deaths other more important things, which had caused them strong emotions and things they had deeply cared about. It wasn't even a 'remembering', but more of a feeling.

Of course, there were exceptions. For example, many of the demented ghosts remembered at least a third from their life. If not their whole life. There came the phantoms too.

Luffy couldn't help but to shudder. The phantoms were something he  _really_  didn't want to think about. Not that he really knew many things about them. Not that, he  _wanted_  to, though. He knew enough to know he didn't want them anywhere near him.

The boy had heard from other ghosts that there were different types of phantoms. And those types subdivided into different kinds of abilities characteristic for each one. But this was a really debatable topic between the dead ones.

Some were saying that phantoms didn't even exist - that it was a myth, others - that they were real, but that they were normal ghosts, who only could do little things like blowing in your face or shutting a door behind you + the third ones, who just believed in their existence and in their extraordinary abilities, although they had never seen one.

"Well…" began Vivi, her eyebrows knitted in thought and a hand firmly placed on her delicate chin. "I think I had a father, who I really loved, but we would often argue about something that used to make me nervous and feeling sick. That's all."

Luffy nodded. As expected. "But why do you come here? It sounds as if you do it often."

"Not really often, I just like walking around the town and watching what people are doing," answered Vivi and shrugged again. "What about you?" asked she, eagerly. Luffy blinked at the intrigued glint in her eyes. She inclined forward in interest. "How can you see me? You're the first person I've met with such ability."

"I don't know," said Luffy and felt guilty for not being able to answer the question, when he saw Vivi's disappointed expression.

"Really?"

The boy nodded.

"I expected some long, intricated story and explanations of voodoo rituals or something," said the ghost with a sigh. Luffy laughed resonantly.

"Sorry to disappoint you," said Luffy with a wide smile. He leaned backward slightly, supporting himself on his hands. "Long story short - I've always sensed things around me when I was a child and if I wanted to listen, I could hear whispering voices. Sometimes I would even see a ghost for a second or two, but then they would disappear. Or on rare occasions, they would stick around for 10-15 minutes and I would play with them. I was always told that those are imaginary friends and that I would grow out this faze. But when I was 7 I nearly drowned and since then I'm really able to hear you, sense you, see you and etc. all the time."

"I guess you have never told anyone about this?" presumed Vivi, playing with her long ponytail.

"No, I haven't. If I did, maybe I was going to be in this psychiatry too."

"Yeah, most likely," said the blue-haired girl in thought. "By the way, I was quite surprised at first when I saw you. It was really strange because I just  _knew_  you would be able to see me."

Luffy nodded at this. "Yeah, I know. I don't know why, but it happens with all ghosts. Some don't even need to see me to know I can see them, they just sense me and come to me."

"That sounds kinda creepy," said Vivi with a laugh.

"It is. Especially if you're showering and an 80 years old lady sticks her head through the curtains of the shower cabin," snorted out Luffy and made a face, recalling the occurrence. The blue-haired girl burst into laughter.

The boy looked at her, feeling a huge grin, making its way on his lips. The infectious sound was reverberating in the air and he soon found himself, succumbing to it. Shortly after his own laugh was ringing around them.

"H-has this r-really happened?" asked Vivi, after a while, between fits of laughter. Her stomach literally hurt, but she couldn't help it. She was sure both of their surprised or more likely shocked expressions had been priceless. She didn't know about the old lady, but she was sure Luffy had been mortified.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"I don't know about you, but I'm sure the woman had been happy to get an eyeful of young flesh," said Vivi, teasingly and had another fit of laughter, when she saw the boy's expression of utter disgust with him wrinkling his button nose.

Vivi could feel tears, streaming down her face and she leaned to one of her sides, putting a hand on the floor, in order not to fall. Luffy smiled at her.

When the girl calmed down and there was only a huge grin remaining on her face, she wiped away her tears and asked, "So, what are you doing here? You asked me, I guess now it's my turn." Vivi smiled playfully and winked at him.

"I wanted to gather some info about one of the ghosts. Maybe you actually saw her before."

"Hm?" Vivi blinked and arched an eyebrow. "Who?"

And Luffy told her. He told her everything about Alvida - what he had discovered and what he had experienced first handedly. Everything that had occurred the past few days. The boy explained her too what were his intentions based on his past experience.

Vivi was listening to him with concentration the whole time, without interrupting him.

Quite some time passed and when Luffy finished, he felt as if his mouth was drier than the desert Sahara. He didn't realize that so many things needed to be said for him to explain the situation. Or, they weren't many in reality, it was just because he usually didn't talk this much with people.

Or talk with people at all.

He really was pretty antisocial, wasn't he?

"Well, I don't know many things about ghosts in general, because I myself am not one from this much time, but I've met a few demented ones and I know how scary they can be, so what you're intending to do is worth the try," said Vivi after thinking everything over. "The woman I saw matches the description you gave me, so we are safe to say that's Alvida."

Luffy nodded. "Do you think I can just go and ask about her in the hospital?"

Vivi shrugged. "You can try. She's dead and a murderer. I doubt someone will care enough for her to keep privacy." Luffy rolled his eyes at that.

"What? We're both dead. I can say stuff like that. It's not disrespectful," said the girl matter-of-factly.

The raven-haired boy snorted but didn't say anything to this. If he had, to be honest, he was pretty tempted to laugh but didn't want to anger the universe and receive more demented ghosts in return.

Karma was a thing. And he wanted to attract only good one towards himself.

"Plus, if they turn you down and kick you out in the worst case scenario, we can always break in, right?" stated Vivi with a bright smile.

"That's easier said than done." Snorted again Luffy and murmured quietly under his nose, "especially if you are an incorporeal ghost."

"I heard this!" ejaculated Vivi and playfully struck the boy lightly.

Luffy dodged it and they grinned at each other.

"So," began she, "we going or not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOVE YOU, ALL HUNS! PLEASE COMMENT AND SHARE WITH ME YOUR OPINIONS ON THE STORY AND IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS OR IF THERE IS SOMETHING YOU WANT TO SEE IN FUTURE CHAPTERS, FEEL FREE TO INFORM ME! HAVE A NICE DAY, BABES! XOXO


	13. 'Research in the psychiatry'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys! Lately, I've been having problems at school, in my personal life + teachers have been going crazy on us about school work. I haven't been feeling very well emotionally and I haven't had the time to sit down and write. For the past months, I'm always drained in every way possible. I know you probably don't care about this and you really don't have to but I just wanted to say that it's not because I don't want to update or etc. Please understand me. Plus, I have a few offers for you.  
> 1.) I'm searching for a beta reader if someone is interested!  
> 2.) I'm searching for a proofreader if someone is interested!  
> 3.) I'm searching for a critique partner if someone is interested!  
> I'll give my best to update asap, but, nevertheless, I want you to know that I have no intention of abandoning this story and even if I don't update regularly (something I'm really trying to change) I want you to know that I'm going to finish it. Now I-m in holidays so I'll give my best to update maximum in a week. Thank you for all the support and I really hope I haven't lost some of you. Love you, babes! <3 Merry Christmas!

**GUYS, PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGIES FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN WHY, YOU CAN READ THE NOTES! PLUS, JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, I'M SEARCHING FOR A BETA READER AND FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO HELP ME CORRECT MY GRAMMAR MISTAKES IN CHAPTERS!**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS! WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!**

**AGAIN, I'M REALLY SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG!**

* * *

 

      After their chit-chat in the wood-shed, Luffy and Vivi headed for the psychiatry. Outside it was still raining mercilessly but the pair splashed through the wood for a couple of minutes.

      Now they were standing in front of the white building and the raven-haired boy had his head slightly tilted back, so he could stare at the imposing construction without having his hoods obstructing his vision. Raindrops were fiercely hitting his pale skin, freely running down his small face.

      Luffy's gaze was fixed at the entrance of the hospital. They were standing right at the bottom of the stone, grey staircase. There was a roofed platform before the enormous, double, steel doors. On top of the canopy, there was a board made of big letters, forming the superscription: "PSYCHIATRY - Branch of GolO Corporation's scientific department". The letters were rust-colored and barely standing up. At some point in the past, they were probably meant to be turned on and shine in the dark but the boy seriously doubted their efficiency, having in mind the metal rods and the torn armored cables that were pocking through the plastic surface of the inscription and pointing at the angry sky.

      Luffy was like enchanted. It was the same as back then when he first set a foot in front of Ace's house.

      The same ominous and menacing energy. The same dark atmosphere.

      No, not the same.

      Worse than before.

      Back then he could feel it all around the place - it wasn't just about his brother's house. It was more about the whole town and especially the forest. But here… He felt as if this place - the building was the center of the ill-boding energy. There was something completely wrong with this place. He could feel it. Here lied something sinister and appalling enough to make the hairs all over his body straighten up.

      "We going in?" asked Vivi, staring at the entrance and then shifting her blue eyes towards Luffy.

      "Well…"

      "What? You gathering courage?" said the ghost-girl with a cheeky smile and a devilish note in her voice.

      The raven-haired boy instantly pouted. "O-of course, not. I-I was just, um.." A redness began to spread over the boy's cheeks.

      Vivi laughed. "Come on, there is nothing scary."

      Luffy nodded slowly. With a sigh, he began climbing the stairs. Vivi followed suit.

      When they entered the building, Luffy gave himself a second to examine its interior. Well, there wasn't that much to be examined, though. Aside from the fact that literally, everything was white, there wasn't anything this outstanding.

      They were standing at the beginning of an enormous hallway. On the left, less then 5 meters away from the couple, there was an old white desk, behind which was standing a middle-aged woman. Her black hair was securely tied in a painfully tight, steady bun at the back of her head just above the nape of her neck. She was wearing brown glasses and was typing something on a big computer that probably dated as far back as the Stone Age.

      The floor consisted of a square, white tales that were cracked here and there or were missing a piece. Or a few. Nurses were hurriedly walking, seemingly not paying any attention to the new visitor. Some of them were scribbling in files cladded in black leather with a strange symbol at their back. 

      The walls were white too, as well as everyone's attire.

      Strangely, no patients were to be seen. 

      Next to the white desk had been placed few metal chairs the surface of which had likely started to rust 20 years ago. Tetanus wasn't a thing after all. _But, of course, not._

      Along the hallway, there were few double doors again made of steel. There wasn't an elevator, but a big, stone staircase at the end of it.

      Yup, this place was definitely if not from the Stone Age, from World War 2. Vivi had been right that no one gave a shit about those people. At the thought, Luffy felt how something in his stomach painfully clenched.

      "Excuse me! The short brat, close the door!" angrily shouted out one of the nurses. Luffy blinked and shifted his eyes to her. The nurse was probably at the end of her 30's, with short, blond hair that looked as if it had been abused too much by curling irons and straighteners. She was staring expectantly at him while fixing her aunt glasses up her hooked nose.

      "U-um, s-sorry…" murmured the boy and closed the door behind him. _How rude_ , thought Luffy. He wasn't short.

      "And what do you want, if I may ask?" spit the nurse out, eyeing him with annoyance. The boy opened his mouth but closed it, not knowing how to respond. He expected to have some time to think about what was he going to say.

      "Are you dumb? I asked you a question!"

      "U-um, I-I.."

      "Well?" asked the woman, arching one of her grotesquely drawn, square, dark brown, eyebrows. 

      Luffy had suddenly become really nervous. He was looking down, playing with the hem of his black hoodie. The boy could feel how his back was becoming sweaty and his small, pale hands were starting to shake. The ball in his stomach was tightening up with every second. A drop of sweat rolled down his childish face.

      "Hey," whispered Vivi gently in his ear. Luffy jumped up slightly and looked up. The ghost-girl had placed her delicate hand over his shoulder, leaning over it. "There's nothing to be worried about. Just explain to her why we are here, right?"

      The boy nodded slightly and took a deep but shaky breath.

      "So?" said the woman sharply, crossing her chubby arms over her bulky chest. Her uniform looked ready to split open and probably shoot someone with its middle button. "If you're going to beg for money, just leave right now, before I've called the security guard."

      Luffy blinked and looked at her surprised. "What?" asked he, dumbfoundedly.

      "Are. You. Here. To. Beg. For. Money!"

      "U-um. I-I'm not," stuttered out the raven-haired boy. The nurse lifted her brow even higher and eyed him skeptically from head to toe. Luffy wiggled uncomfortably under her expectant, steely glance.

      The boy looked at himself, wondering what was the problem.

      _Oh, well…_ He was literally soaked. From his hair, from his shoes, and from his clothes was dripping water, adding to the muddy puddle at his feet. His clothes were ripped at varies places thanks to the prickles from earlier. And let's not start with inadequacy of his choice of attire, having in mind that thin, red shorts were definitely not suited for such weather. Every visible piece of flesh of his body right now was scratched, covered in blood and mostly - in mud. His old trainers were dripping wet and looked ready to fall apart. Plus, there were some leaves and small branches stuck on his clothing.

     Or long story short - he looked like a complete mess. And like a mendicant, according to the woman's words.

     "U-um, I fell," blurted out the boy.

     "You sure?" asked the woman with suspicion clear in her voice. Luffy nodded nervously. After a few agonizing and very awkward seconds, in which the nurse was staring at him with narrowed eyes, the woman turned around, "If you are here for a visit, hurry up. Visiting hours are at their end."

     "I-I'm not h-here for a v-visit," said the boy with a shaky voice. The woman turned around harshly and fixed her sharp gaze on him. Luffy jumped up slightly and his eyes widened by the sudden movement.

     The nurse opened her mouth and was just about to say something but Luffy decided to interfere before she has had the chance to scold him again, "I-I have a-a school project."

     "A school project?"

     "Y-yes."

     "And what it is about?" asked the woman skeptically.

     "W-well…"

     "Say it's about the history of the hospital and that you have to make a presentation about one of the patients here," whispered Vivi in his ear. Luffy repeated her words and waited for a response.

     "Hn. Well, can't you simply surf the Net for this?"

     "I d-did it b-but I-I thought I would b-be able to learn s-s-something more interesting if I come here," answered the raven-haired boy, looking everywhere but in her estimating eyes.

     The woman stared at him for a few more seconds, then said, "Interesting? About the patients, you mean?" Luffy nodded at this.

     "And do you have someone in mind? Because we can't allow you to meet anyone if you are not a relative and the same goes about the information released about them."

     "W-well, I-I was t-thinking about A-Alvida I. Mace," added the boy furtively and looked up to meet the woman's gaze. Something flashed through her eyes. The nurse's body language suddenly changed.

      Luffy didn't miss that. Her features hardened and her whole body stiffened, her oiled with bright pink lipstick lips forming a tight and thin line.

      Clenching her hands into fists, the blonde woman almost expectorated, "If it's about _Alvida_ , you can go and ask the woman right there." With these words, she pointed at the middle-aged, black-haired woman at the desk. "Say her, Kairen sent you. Have a nice day," said she coldly and unemotionally, but yet, somehow… _angrily_.

       Luffy blinked in surprise at the response and watched her turning swiftly around and walking away, her pink heels rapping over the ceramic tiles. "U-um thanks," mumbled the boy but she was already too far to hear him.

       "Okay, this was strange," said Vivi, voicing his own thoughts out loud. Luffy nodded, "It sure was."

       "But I guess it doesn't matter if she helped us."

       Luffy nodded again and looked at the white desk at which the other nurse was working on. He started walking towards it, thinking of what he was going to say. When the boy reached it, succeeding in leaving wet and muddy stains all over the floor, he fixed his eyes on the woman and cleared his throat a little bit awkwardly.

       The woman lifted her brown eyes. "Can I help you with something?" asked she politely and fixed her glasses. Luffy didn't miss the disapproving manner in which she eyed him from head to toe. Great. Everyone thought he looked like a miserable mendicant.

       "U-um, y-yeah. Mrs. Kairen sent me to you s-so you c-can help with a-a s-school project of m-mine," answered the raven-haired boy nervously.

       The nurse leaned backward in her chair and lifted a defined brow, "Kairen sent you?"

       Luffy nodded.

       "And what is this school project of yours about?"

      The boy explained to her and while he was talking the black-haired woman had leaned forward, resting her pointy chin at the top of her intertwined hands. When Luffy finished, she was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and hummed in disbelief, "It's really not typical for her to be willing to share private information."

      Luffy didn't know how to answer to this and just looked at his feet, taking hold of the hem of his raincoat and beginning to fumble with it.

       A few seconds passed in which the woman was staring intently at him but in the end, she simply said, "Come with me."

      The boy lifted his gaze and watched her standing up from her chair, the piece of furniture creating an awful creaking sound. The woman went past him, giving Luffy a full view of her attire that consisted of perfectly ironed, white shirt with long sleeves, black, knee-length skirt and brown shoes with small heels and round front part.

      He followed her down the hallway, wondering if it was okay for her to just leave her work spot like this. They were walking in complete silence and no one spoke until they had climbed to the third floor and were walking slowly down its hallway.

      "So what do you want to know?" questioned the black-haired nurse, when she had made sure there was no one around them.

      "W-well, I-I wanted to k-know more a-about Alvida I. M-mace," rejoined Luffy hesitatingly in a low voice. The woman looked at him and her eyes were somewhat understanding and softer than before.

      She hummed and averted her gaze to the front, "Alvida I. Mace, hm?"

      The boy nodded, although the nurse wasn't really paying him much attention.

     "How you probably already know she died 4 months ago."

     "Y-yeah, s-she ran away from t-the hospital, f-fell from a cliff and b-broke her neck," stuttered Luffy, not feeling really comfortable about talking so openly about her death. The nurse snorted quietly at the last but nodded nevertheless. "That's true and maybe for good. What more do you want to know about her? I believe there was an article in the local newspaper about that story."

     "W-well," started the boy nervously, stirring his shoulders and hands ill at ease. "W-what was s-she like when she was h-here?"

     "What was she like?" repeated the woman with a bitter and a forced smile. She opened the door, leading to the balcony and stepped out, waiting for Luffy to do the same. When the boy was out, she closed it and went to the metal border.

     The terrace was shielded by the concrete floor of the upper floor. It was fairly small and it was facing what seemed to be the hospital's grounds. There were piled up different things such as tables, chairs, some monitors, keyboards and etc. in front of both walls. In front of them was a rusted border on which were hanged up some brown, plastic stands for flowerpots but they were empty.

     "She was a _monster_ ," said the woman, looking up at the sky. She was leaning forward and had placed her elbows at the top of the metal border.

     Luffy shuddered at that and careful not to step over something, he went to stand next to her.

     "She was what people would call unscrupulous and bloodthirsty. Everything bad united in one creature."

     The raven-haired boy leaned forward too. "D-did she h-hurt anyone while s-she was a p-patient here? A-aside f-from w-when she has t-tried to run away?"

     "Oh, yes. She had constant rampages. Every once in a while she would get out of control and would become, simply put, _bloodthirsty_. Like a wild animal - she would just want to kill everyone and _everything_ that would get in her way," almost whispered the nurse. "You see there?" asked she and pointed at some place in the grounds.

     Luffy looked in said direction. Because of the pouring rain, the boy couldn't see much. He narrowed his eyes and the most he could see was some trees with something wooden fixed into the ground. It was a…

     "The cross?"

     "Yes," answered the woman with a bitter smile. "We buried there one of the watchdogs that Alvida tore to pieces with her teeth."

      Luffy stiffened at this. His eyes were wide. His red lips were slightly parted. He felt… _numb._

     "It was a normal day," started narrating the nurse. Her eyes staring unseeingly at the two wooden sticks that were being mercilessly hit by the raindrops. "A peaceful Thursday. Nothing unusual. Alvida had behaved almost the whole previous month and that's why the doctors decided to let her have a short walk in the grounds with one of the nurses. The nurse was a young girl. A probationer. I don't know how no one doubted there wouldn't be any problems."

      "So they went out. Alvida only had handcuffs on, her muzzle was removed. She and the girl were walking close to the enclosure where some of the watchdogs were tied. Presumably one of them started barking at them. And that's when something clicked in Alvida. She hit the girl on the head, knocking her unconscious and charging at the dog. She bit of his head and disemboweled it. When the guards and the doctors arrived, it was already too late. They had to clean the grounds for weeks from pieces of flesh, blood and bones."

      Luffy felt how his stomach overturned. He felt sick. The boy could sense the apple he ate earlier this day making its way up his throat. He felt light-headed and as if his legs couldn't hold him up.

      The black-haired woman was watching him. "You need to sit down?"

      Luffy shook his head slowly, too scared of any sudden movements.

      The nurse eyed him from head to toe but in the end, simply let him be and looked forward. "Do you understand now why I said before that maybe her death was for the best?"

      The boy didn't respond.

      They stayed in silence. But, in reality, there wasn't any need for something to be said. Everything Luffy had heard just now was gruesome. There wasn't a different opinion on the topic.

      It was true that he knew from before how she had hurt some of the doctors and the guards when she was trying to escape. But to know that it had been a regular occurrence…

      Luffy looked up, fixing his eyes at the grave. He wondered how many people had been killed or maimed by her. Or how many animals of the matter. Then he remembered her estimating eyes. Her menacing smile - a promise for endless, painful tortures.

       An angry knock at the glass door of the balcony forced Luffy out of his trance, making him jump up a little. The black-haired woman turned around, fixing her glasses.

       A man in white overall opened the door and glared at both of them. "What are you two doing here!?" said he nearly shouting. "And _Mrs_. _Laki_ , why there is no one at the reception? Do you want to get fired? Because if so, I can easily arrange it!"

       "Excuse me, _doctor_ , but I will politely decline your offer," answered Mrs. Laki with devilish notes in her voice and smugly slipped through the open door, making sure to rub her thigh teasingly against the man's leg. This only seemed to infuriate him more because he nearly growled at her, " _Mrs._ If I was you, I would _apologize nicely_ and lay low from now on, if I want _to keep my job."_

      The woman chuckled slightly, "I sincerely beg your pardon, _Mr._ "

      The man murmured something angrily but Luffy wasn't able to hear it.

      "And _you,_ " hissed he, turning to glare at Luffy. The boy jumped up slightly, blushing scarlet from embarrassment. "What are _you_ doing here? Visitors are not allowed here!"

       Luffy opened his mouth to say something but couldn't come up with anything and this made him blush harder than before. 

      "U-um.."

      "The child got lost," interfered Laki. The man shifted his gaze to look at her.

      "And you brought him here, _because_?" questioned he sharply.

      " _Because_ I was showing him from where he has to go to reach Loguetown Highway. And _then_ how to reach the first Taxi Stand."

     The doctor looked at them and grunted out, "I want the brat out of here in 5."

     Then he turned around and stormed off down the long hallway.

     Laki chuckled again. "Isn't he a sweetheart?"

     Luffy just fumbled with the hem of his hoodie embarrassedly. The woman eyed him from head to toe and smiled a bit.

     "Come on," urged him Laki playfully. Aside from his… _questionable appearance_ , she couldn't help but find the boy cute.

      While they were walking towards the exit, Luffy murmured softly, "U-um, Mrs. Laki?"

      "Hm?" vocalized the woman questioningly and slowed down her pace, glancing over her shoulder at the boy. Luffy looked up timidly to meet her gaze. There was something that had been bugging him from before.

      "E-earlier, u-um.. You k-kind of r-reacted strange w-when I, u-um, m-mentioned A-Alvida's d-death." Hearing this, something flashed through Laki's eyes and she turned her head forward. "W-why was t-this?" asked the boy.

      "You know… Alvida, she didn’t _exactly_ have many _friends_."

  

 

     

    

     

      

* * *

 


	14. 'Finally home'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Editor: mistymint123  
> Beta-reader: mistymint123

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sweeties!  
> Hope you enjoy the chap! I want to announce that I have a new addition of the team: my editor... MISTYMINT123!!!  
> Let's greet her and give her credits about her wonderful job XOXO

 

    Luffy closed the steel door behind him with a soft, scraping sound. It, like everything else in the psychiatry, obviously needed to be lubricated, fixed or better - completely replaced with a new one.

    The rain was still pouring outside, hitting everything within its each mercilessly. The wind was howling sorrowfully, giving the raven-haired boy the creeps.

    He started walking down the slippery stone staircase, while putting on both of his hoodies, tying their laces securely under his chin and sticking his hands in his pockets in a vain attempt to warm himself up a little bit.

    "You cold?" asked Vivi, eyeing him from head to toe. She was walking or more specifically _floating_ next to him. While he had been talking with Mrs. Laki, the ghost-girl had disappeared but Luffy assumed she had been following them all the time and prudently eavesdropping on their conversation. Not that the boy really minded, though. He found her presence extremely calming and reassuring.

    "N-no, not really," lied Luffy, meanwhile making a desperate attempt at snuggling deeper into his clothes in search of some warmth.

Vivi arched an eyebrow. "You sure?"

    The boy sneezed. And again.And again. His cheeks and his button-nose flushed, his eyes watering and becoming puffy and red. Vivi couldn't help it and smiled against her will, her features softening. She was just about to scold him for the apparent lie, but Luffy was just way too adorable.

    "Y-yes," murmured the boy and sneezed again, putting his small and scratched to blood hands in front of his reddish nose.

    "Someone is thinking about you," said the girl devilishly and bumped his shoulder slightly, not really managing to hit him for obvious reasons but the action achieved the effect she was hoping for - attracting the boy's attention.

    Luffy looked at her and snorted.

    "What!?" exclaimed Vivi. "Some girl, maybe…"

    "Yeah, yea-" started the boy but sneezed again. From where did this sneezing come from all of a suddenly way? He was fine like two minutes ago for God's sake!

    "See? You know I'm right," smiled the girl cheekily.

    "Y-you a-a-are," sneeze, "n-not," sneeze, "right," finished Luffy finally.

    "And why?" questioned Vivi and jumped from the middle of the staircase where she and the boy had been standing right to its bottom, then swiftly turned around to look up at her new friend.

    Proceeding with going down the stairs, Luffy felt his nose itch again but began nevertheless, "B-beca-a-a-"

    Then he sneezed. _Hard._ The boy lost his balance;  one second he was trying to gain it back and the next, thanks to the rain and the slippery stone under his feet, he found himself sprawled at the very bottom of the staircase in a puddle, with an aching back and a bump starting to form at the back of his head.

    A mellifluous laugh filled the air.

    "You just have a thing for falling down, don't you?" said Vivi, leaning over Luffy's body. The boy looked at her with half-lidded eyes; everything was swirling and he felt dizzy.

Vivi chuckled slightly, putting a hand over her mouth to conceal it. The ends of her long, blue ponytail were swaying just above Luffy's face. The boy tried following their movement with his gaze but this only seemed to make him more light-headed.

    Luffy closed his eyes for a few seconds until he felt he was in a proper condition to sit up.

   "You alright?" questioned the ghost girl, staring at the bent figure in front of her.

   "Y-yeah," answered the raven-haired boy, forcing the words out of his throat. He didn't feel like talking right now, but he didn't think he would be able to endure nodding too.

    After a few moments, once the spinning had disappeared, Luffy stood up. Vivi moved backward to give him some space.

    When the boy was up, he looked down at his body.

_Great. I look even worse than before._

    He sighed. Thanks to the slippery staircase and his sneezing, he was even wetter and dirty. And scratched. If someone had told him five minutes ago that this was even possible he would have laughed in their face.

    "How bad do I look on a scale from 1 to 10?" asked Luffy, turning to look at Vivi. The girl blinked at the question and eyed him. The boy watched how her icy gaze traveled over his body - from his trainers to his shorts, then to his hoodie and raincoat and finally, it stopped at his face.

    She opened her mouth to say something but closed it right afterward. Luffy sighed again and lifted his hand to rub off some of the muddy water that had landed on his face thanks to the puddle in which he had landed.

 _Well_ … Maybe rubbing wasn't the right choice of action, due to the fact that he had succeeded in smearing the mud all over his cheeks and nose.

   Vivi, who had been watching him, turned her head to her side to hide her amused smile. Seeing this, the raven-haired boy just dropped his hands down in frustration and said, with another annoyed sigh, "Just… Just let's go, okay?"

   Vivi chuckled slightly but nodded nevertheless.

 

 

    Later on, while they were making their way through the woods, the pair took their time to discuss everything that had happened so far. Vivi had been extremely intrigued about Luffy's previous experience with ghosts and especially with demented ones. Which in reality wasn't much.

    Oh, and she wanted to hear what plan of action he had come up with for dealing with the demented one following at present.

    However, the problem was that the boy wasn't sure himself what he was going to do with Alvida.

    Yes, he went to the library and to the psychiatry. Yes, he gathered information. But for what? He didn't have a goddamn idea of what to do with it. There wasn't any plan or whatever. This wasn't 'The Whisperer' or some other American TV series for God’s sake. Plus, he wasn't some kind of an exorcist or a priest. (Not that he was religious, but who knows…)

    He was totally lost. Just plain lost. He couldn't think of any way to stop Alvida's unexpected and if he might say so without offending any demented ghosts for the matter, _unpleasant_ visits. He didn't really understand the whole ghost-thing either.

   He could see them, hear them, sense their presence, their touch, their breath and etc. To him they felt as alive like every other human being he had met, with the only exception they couldn't hurt him in any way or make any difference to the environment. For instance, they can't move things around or do you any physical damage. The only way they can harm you is if they have found their way within your dreams and fuck up your psyche.

    "Well, can't we find that fortuneteller from years ago?" asked Vivi curiously.

    "I doubt we'll be able to find her," answered Luffy turning his head to look at her. "You know, they travel from town to town. Plus, I don't even remember the name of the carnival."

    "You sure about that? Even if you forced yourself and took your time to think, you wouldn't be able to remember?"

    The boy sighed and looked forward. "I don't know.  To be honest, I don't have any idea of what to do from now on."

     A warm hand was placed on his shoulder. Luffy blinked in surprise and looked at Vivi, who granted him with a warm smile.

     "Everything will be alright," she said with a caring and reassuring voice. The raven-haired boy returned her smile and nodded slightly. He could feel his tensed muscles loosening up a little bit and his body relaxing. He didn't know how Vivi was doing it, but she could really calm down a person. There was just something so mother-like in her.

     "Well, why don't you at least try to remember something about the carnival? Until then, we could search for other ways to deal with Alvida," suggested she.

     "O-okay."

     They walked in silence for a few minutes, but then Luffy decided to break it. Rubbing his head sheepishly, he said, "U-um, by the way, d-don't feel obliged to help me or anything. I-I guess I look kinda pathetic right now, but really I can deal with it, so don-"

     "Are you crazy!?" exclaimed Vivi, startling the boy. "Do you know how _tedious_ it is to be dead? Even if you don't want to, I'm helping you!" declared the girl. She had her eyes closed and her hands were crossed in front of her chest. Her whole posture pretty much screamed 'Don't you even dare to argue with me'.

"Plus," began Vivi, opening one of her eyes to look at him, "I really like you."

     Luffy's eyes widened; on his lips blossomed a genuine smile. The girl returned his smile and a few moments after, they both found themselves laughing unrestrainedly, their voices resonating through the whole forest.

 

      An hour or more later, they finally managed to find Luffy's brother's house. The sun was already going down and the sky was tinted with amethyst and rosy pink tints. Well, okay. Maybe they wandered around the forest a little bit more than an hour, having in mind that Luffy left the house early in the morning.

      This was all due to the fact that the boy didn't exactly know where he lived, plus he was definitely not good at describing things, which made the process a lot slower. The pair pretty much made a panoramic tour through the town and the woods, in order to find Ace's house.

       In the end, Luffy at least learned that his neighborhood was called "The Red Line", because of the fact it was at the center of Earth. And there lived the richest people in this part of the country.

_Sweet._

      Now they were walking down the street from where the boy could pretty much see his house. _Finally._ While they were chattering, Luffy noticed something when they neared it. They were walking from the side of the woods. Nearby was the small garage that was closer to the mansion.

      While passing by it, he could clearly make out that there were _way too many_ cars in it. Expensive cars. Like _really_ expensive cars.

Vivi whistled next to him, looking through the garage's window, "Your brother’s either filthy rich or his friends have pretty good financial states."

      Luffy didn't know what to answer to this. But anyway, they had to talk quieter now, because he had seen Ace's Bugatti in the garage, meaning his brother was home.

      He silently went to unlock the door, scanning his eyes, and they got inside. He could hear deep and hoarse male voices coming from the hallway that was just behind the glass staircase.

      Whispering, the pair headed stealthily towards it, trying not to attract any attention from the noisy group sitting on the couches.

      The hallway pretty much consisted of an enormous room that had large windows that were almost eating up the whole wall facing the street. They were made from the same dark glass the wall in his room was made of, meaning you could see everything outside without any passersby seeing what you are doing. Plus, what Luffy had discovered in the previous morning - they weren't obstructing any light from coming in and they didn't change the depth of colors you see.

      It was kinda cool.

      Not far away from the big windows, in the center of the room, was placed a big, rectangular glass table that was surrounded by two large couches and two armchairs. Every piece of furniture was made of expensive black leather. Under them, on the dark wooden floor, was sprawled a white, fluffy mat.

     At the back of the room stood three proud and imposing cabinets. In the middle one were stored all kinds of expensive - repeating- _expensive_ , alcohols. The other two were filled with various types of guns and knives.

    At both sides of the cabinets were, again, two big windows that were facing the woods.

    At the walls were hanging different pictures, presumably _expensive_ and from famous artists, and some photos. And guns.And knives.

    Around the table were gathered around a dozen men who were all laughing at something, filling the air with echoes of their deep voices. Some of them were literally _howling._

     When they calmed down a bit, Luffy had almost reached the staircase. But like a déjà vu, when he was just about to place his foot on the first step, he heard, "Oh, Ace, your brother is here."

     The boy squeezed his eyes and bit his lip just in time for his brother, who had been facing away from him, while sitting on the couch, turned around. Everyone followed suit, and now they were all staring at him.

      "Why is that kid dripping wet again?" asked someone with an amused voice, which Luffy recognized as Marco's. He was from those who saw him soaked to the bone in the police station.

      Ace made a sign to him to go to them with his right hand. Judging by his look, he wasn't very happy to see him.

      The raven-haired boy looked at his feet and started walking towards the group reluctantly. He chewed at his lip and fidgeted with the hem of his hoodie nervously. Ace looked really angry. Probably because he had interrupted him and his friends.Or because he was late.Or maybe both.

     Luffy was becoming more and more frightened while he approached them. His body became tense. A big ball formed in his stomach and another in his throat, suffocating him. He started shivering.

     By the time he had reached the couch, he was shaking all over.

     His big brother was glaring at him with narrowed eyes and hands crossed over his bulky chest. He had eyed him from head to toe while the boy was nearing, and was definitely not pleased with his looks.

     Luffy's whole body was covered in mud, scratches, and bruises. And he was _soaked._

_Again._

     They stayed like this a few more seconds in silence - Luffy in front of his big brother with bowed head and Ace examining him.

     Luffy could feel his brother’s strict and piercing gaze burning a hole on his head.

     Jets of cold sweat began forming and rolling down the boy's back. He squeezed his brown orbs again. Luffy really didn't want to make his big brother angry.

    What's more, _he didn't want to get beaten._

    At that moment bad memories started flooding the raven-haired boy's head. Memories that caused the scars on his body to start itching and some to burn. Memories, whose button he wanted to turn off. To lock them somewhere and forget about them.

    Unfortunately, this just wasn't possible. And now images of his previous home, of his grandpa and of their basement began appearing in his head.

_No. No. No. – Just- not that…_

    But it was too late. He remembered. The cracking of a whip. A boy's screams. Cold and hateful eyes.The pain.The hatred whose target was him only. The desire to die, of it to just _stop_ … He just wanted it to stop. _Everything to just stop._

_Please._

     "-ey. Hey."

     Luffy's head suddenly shot up at the distant voice that had reached his ears. His eyes widened. He was met with everyone's gazes fixed on his trembling form. A few people were laughing silently. The boy felt his cheeks heating up from embarrassment.

    The voice apparently belonged to Ace, who was now expectantly looking at him with a raised brow.

    A single "Ah?'' was the boy's response to this.

    More people started chuckling and snorting amusedly, more openly now.

    Luffy's cheeks heated up even more because of that.

    "I asked you where have you been and why you are so dirty and soaked?" asked Ace.

    "I-I, u-um, I-I t-took a-a w-walk," answered the trembling boy, not daring to meet his brother's eyes.

    "Where? In the sewerage?" Luffy almost winced at Ace's mordant tone.

    "N-no, i-in the w-woods."

    "The woods? What business do you have in the wood? Plus, didn't I tell you not to go out in such clothes? You're going to freeze and get ill. What's this head of yours for?"

    The boy just twisted in himself, trying to get smaller. At that moment, he really wanted to disappear. If just the ground could open up under him and swallow up his body, it would have been great. But no. No such things in real life.

    "I-I'm r-r-really-y s-sorry-y," stuttered Luffy out silently with a trembling voice, hands shaking madly in front of his tiny form.

     Ace stayed quiet for a little bit; when he was just about to say something, Marco interrupted him, diverted him, "Ace, leave the kid alone, you're scaring him. Just let him go and change."

    The latter sighed and rolled his eyes at that, but nevertheless said, "Go straight into the shower and put some warm clothes on. There is a first aid kit in one of the cupboards in the bathroom."

     Luffy nodded hastily and apologized for bothering them, he took this chance to leave. While he was hurrying towards the staircase with eyes glued to his shoes, he heard his brother adding, "And wash your clothes."

     The boy just nodded again and began climbing the stairs at the speed of light.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chap might have been pretty boring for some if you but there is no way if we want to make a good story!  
> Don't forget to share your thoughts on the chap!  
> Love you and wish you all the best, darlings! XOXO


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